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EDITOR OP THE BANIJEB OP LIBERTY. 



[entered according to the act of congress in the clerk's office 

FOE THE SOOTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK.] 



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A HEVIHW AHG HHFOTATIOH 

OF HELPER'S ''IMPENDING CRISIS OF THE SOUTH." 



-^^eO' -^ -<-«|9^>"-*> *- 



PEEF ACE 



Tlie "Impending Crisis" was originally [ and the latter to the lesser catechism of 
published in a book of 420 pages, by | the English Church, — and that party is, 
" Burdick Brothers, New York," in 185T. i therefore, committed to the creed it in- 



At first it attracted comparatively little 
public attention. Subsequently, however, 
through the commendation of leading 
politicians of the "Repitblican party," (as 
its adherents delight to designate that 
sectional organizatioji composed of a 
strange fusion of almost all the fanati- 
cisms that have arisen in New England 
during the past half century,) has given 



culcates, and must stand or fall there- 
with. It is true that thousands and tens 
of thousands of patriotic, well-meaning 
and kind-hearted men, who have hitherto 
acted With that party against the Nation- 
al Democracy, from some special preju- 
dice or peculiar opinion, recoil with horror 
from the bloody issue involved in the tri- 
umph of its ferocious tenets: yet they will 



the publication a degree of importance to j have no alternative but to sustain them^ 
which its intrinsic merits would not other- i or to withdraw from a party whose lead- 
jvise have entitled it. Edition has follow- j ers have raised the black banner of trea- 
ed edition so rapidly, and a compendium ; son, emblazoned with the blood of fatrici- 
in cheaper form, been so extensively cir- i dal warfare, as the ensign under which 
culated, that its infamous doctrines and i its phalanx is to form for the campaign of 
dangerous errors have already been sown i 1860. It is to this class, more especially, 
broadcast throughout our country. We I that we desire to address ourself, in au- 
deem no apology necessary, therefore, fori swering the " brutal and bloody ^ pub- 
undertakiug to refute those doctrines and j licatiou thg^t we propose to review, 
to root out those errors from the soil j We are aware that some have asserted 
they threaten to contaminate and curse, that ttfe unusual importance given to the 



Inasmuch as the "Impending Crisis" 
seems to have been adopted by the sec- 
tionalist opponents of the National De- 
mocracy as their text-book for the ensu- 
ing Presidential Campaign, in which the 
fate of our great Republic, and all that 
freemen should hold most dear, is so fully 
involved, no time should be lost in expo- 
sing its apocryphal, delusive and damning 
heresies, before the minds of men shall 
have been perverted and their hearts cor- 
rupted by its sacrilegious and soul-ensnar- 
ing sophisms. The Sanhedrim of the 
chief priests of the Republican synagogue 
have endorsed the book and its abridge 



" Crisis," arose from an uncalled for 
projection of the publication into the con- 
test for Speakership of the House of Rep- 
resentatives; but a moment's reflection 
must convince any one that the thrusting 
of the book before Congress, was the 
necessary consequence of its endorsement, 
by all the chief leaders of the Republican 
party, including the two most prominent 
candidates for the Speakership presented 
by its members of Congress. In view of 
its atrocious teachings, it could not reasou- 
ably be expected that the Representatives 
of Southern constituencies would be willing 
in any event to remain members of a Cou- 



ment — the former answering to the larger ! gress that should choose as its presiding 



officer a man who had endorsed a book 
which taught that it was the right and 
the duty of the negro slaves to murder 
their masters, their wives, and their little 
oaes, in order to release themselves from 
that kind custody in which they existed 
at the time our IJnion was formed by the 
voluntary compact of " free and inde- 
pendent States." It is true that one of 
ihe two Republican candidates for the 
Speakership, (Mr. Grow, of Pa.,) who 
htul endorsed Helper's book, subsequently 
withdrew his name, and that the other, 
(Mr. Sherman, of Ohio,) disavowed its 
doctrines, and apologized for his endorsal 
by professing ignorance of the contents of 
the book he had commended. But, even 
if this disclaimer were deemed ample by 
the Representatives of Southern constitu- 
encies, it is also, at the same time, a com- 
plete vindication of Hon. J. B. Clark, of 
Missouri, and the Democratic members 
who sustained him, in urging his resolu- 
tion, upon the first day of the session of 
the present Congress, viz: 

Whereas, Certain members of the House now 
in nomination for Speaker, did endorse and rec- 
ommend the book hereinafter named : therefore 

Resolved, That the doctrines and sentiments of 
a certain book called " The Impending Crisis of 
the South, and How to Meet It," purporting to 
have been written by H. R. Helper, are incendia- 
1 y, and hostile to the domestic peace and tranquil- 
ity of the country, and that no member of this 
House who recommended or endorsed it, or the 
■jompend, la lit to be Speaker of this House. 

Witli these prefatory remarks relative 
to the eircumstances that have given 
prominence to Helper's book, and induced 
as to dignify it with a Review, and damn 
it with a Refutation of all its thousand 
fallacies, we shall now proceed to take 
the book in hand, to analyze all its es- 
sential assumptions, and leave our readers 
to judge of our animadversions. 

Tile book is dedicated to three persons 
ot whom we never before heard, "and 
to the non-slaveholding whites of the 
Soiitn generally, by their sincere friend 
auu Icllow citizen, the Author." Why, 
the ^'.reature who thus addresses and at- 
tempts to instigate to deeds of blood 
•' the uon-slaveholding whites of the 



South generally," instead of being their 
" fellow-citizen," as he claims, dares not — 
for good reasons we shall soon give — to 
show his sneaking face upon the soil 
whereon he was born, nor in the State 
that spit him forth as a foul thing un- 
fit to pollute her healthy atmosphere. 

So much for the inscription — now for 
the preface: 

" What I have committed to paper, is but a fair 
reflex of the honest and lon.g settkd convictions of 
my heart." — 1st ^ of Preface. 

Now, in reviewiug a work it might not 
be deemed logically legitimate to allude 
to "or allcdge the dishonest character of 
the ai^thor ; but when, in the first para- 
graph oi his prefac/B, he prefers such high 
claims to honesty, in order to give weight 
to his wicked lies and seditious sophisms, 
he challenges and invites such allusions. 
We shall therefore take up the glove and 
accept the invitation. Iti doing so, we 
shall not oflset against his ostentaitious 
Pharisaical professions any allegations of 
our own ; but from the journals of Con 
gress show how the poor creature was 
branded but a year or two ago. 

In the United States Senate, Monday, 
April 5th, 1858, the Abohtionist Wilson 
of Massachusetts, (who got rich enough in 
manufacturing brogans for Souihern ne- 
groes to secure a seat in the U. S. Senate, 
where he could disgrace our country by a 
display of liis uncouthness and ignorance, ) 
having alluded to Helper, alias Heifer's 
"Crisis" as authority for some silly fal- 
sity, Hon. Asa Biggs, of North Carolina, 
the State from which Helper alias Heifer, 
hails — then a Senator, and now a Judge 
of the U. S. Court for the District of North 
Carolina, and one of the most honorable 
men that breathes, said: 

" I want to disabuse the miad of the Sen- 
ator from Massachusetts and those who read 
this book as to the reliabilty of the author 
oa whom he^ relies. Who thee, is this Mr. 
Helper, of Korth Carohna, rehed upon iu the 
Senate of the United Stateo' as evidence from 
the South of the state cf Southern society ? — 
I speak from authority that cannot be doubled. 
1 Hiaton Bowan Helper, the author of the " Im- 



pending Crisis," is a native of Davi^ County, 
North Carolina. His first appearance in ac- 
tive life Teas as a clerk cf Michael Brown, a 
mercbaut in Salisbury, North Carolina, ilr. 
Brown is an Elder of the Presbyterian church, 
and after removing to Salisbury, he joined the 
Presbyterian Church, and, so far as was pub- 
licly known, conducted himself with propriety. 
After living v/ith Mr Brown several years as 
a cierk, it vzas undersiocd at Salisbury that he 
formed a copartnership with Mr. CclFman in 
the book business, and left for the North to 
buy in a stock of books. He did not return, 
as expected, but shortly thereafter went to 
California, and there, or shortly after hi.s re- 
turn, wrote a book called " Land of Gold." — 
He returned to Salisbury about 1854, where 
he remained some time without any appaieut 
business. lu tlie summer of 1856, as is report- 
ed and believed, he procured surety and ob- 
tained money. He, however, about that time 
left lor the North, where he now resides, never 
since having returned to North Carolina. At- 
ter leaving North Carolina he changed his 
name from Heifer to Helper ; and it was dis- 
closed last year that, while a clerk for Mr. 
Brown, he purloined from him three hundred 
dollars, and, after an esposuie by Mr. Brown, 
Helper, making a merit of necessity, himself 
publicly cor fesses, in a handbill which I have 
before me, this thieving on his part, and excu- 
ses it upon the gror.nd that he was enticed to 
the act by .-iome ambiguous expression of a 
friend of his that it was allowable for clerks to 
do ; and the further excise, that it was an in- 
discretion t)f youth, although at that time he 
was in full standing in the Presbyterian 
Church, and, as he says himself, was seventeen 
years of age. It is due to the Presbyterian 
Church to say that this man is nOt now a 
member of that Church. Now, sir, when and 
why he altered his name, I know not, except 
he defines Helper, one who helps himself from 
the purses of others without their consent ; 
and, therefore, conclude^ the change of name 
appropriate to his character. lie is a dishon- 
est, degraded and disgraced man ; and although 
— much to be regretted — a native of the State, 
yet he is an apostate son, ruined in fortune and 
character, and catering to a diseased appetite 
at the North to obtain a miserable living by 
slanders upon the land of his birth ; and I 
deeply regret that the Senator from Maf^suchu- 
setts, has, by a reference, so dignified tht crea- 
ture as to render necessary this exposure. — 
Such is Mr. Helper, of North Carolina, au- 
thor of the " Impendmg Crisis of the South," 



alias Mr. Heifer, once of Carolina, but who 
has left the land of his birth for the ;,'nod o. 
the State." 

So mnch for the honesty of this lellow 
that from conscientious motives orges ne- 
groes to cut their masters' throats, in or- 
der to free themselves from the fricmlly 
care to vfhich they owe their salvation 
from the stealing, starving and suffering 
condition of most Northern negroes, 
and the cannibal condition of their native 
land. 

Now for his " long-settled convictions," 
coupled with bis " honesty." But a year 
or two previous to the publication of 
his "Impending Crisis" he — this same 
Hinton Rowan Helper, alias Heifer — 
published a book entitled the " Land of 
Gold." From it we will take an ex- 
tract or two, of the many we might make, 
showing how "long settled" were his 
anti-slavery convictions boasted of in the 
year following. That none may deny the 
truth of our quotations, we will say that 
the " Land of Gold " was ptiblished at, 
Baltimore in 1855, and bears the imprint 
of " Henry & Taylor, Sun Iron Building, 
Baltimore." From that work, by this 
same man of " honest and long settled con- 
victions .'" we make the following extracts: 

" Nicaragua can never fulfil its destiny uniii 
it introduces negro slavery. 

" Nothing bat slave labor can ever subdue 
its forests or cultivate its untimbered lands. 

" White men may live upon ii^ soil with an 
umbreha in one hand and a fan in the otbei . 
but they can never unfold or develop its re- 
sources. May we not safely conclude that 
negro slavery will be introduced into this coun- 
try before the lapse of many years? We think 
so. The tendency of events fully warrants thi;- 
inference." 

We might multiply extracts from this 
work, written but a year or two before 
the " Impending Crisis," but we shall 
merely refer to another passage, in which 
he indignantly alludes to the negroes O: 
California as having, in his own words, 
been " enticed by meddling Abolitionists." 

After having thus glanced at the ante- 
cedents of this " honest and long-settled '' 



pretender, who turns out to be a " dis- 
honest, degraded and disgraced" fugitive, 
like Cain of old, and a vagabond upon the 
face of the earth, let us look to the pro- 
gramme he, or his scribe, lays down for 
his "Impending Crisis." . He says: 

" I have considered my subject more particu- 
larly with reference to its economic aspects, as re- 
gards the whites — not with reference, except in a 
very slight degree,to its humanitarian and religious 
aspects. To the latter side of the question North- 
ern writers have already done full and ample jus- 
'tice. The genius of the North has also most ably 
and eloquently discussed the subject in the form 
of novels." 

He proposes to touch " in a very slight 
degree upon the humanitarian and relig- 
ious aspects" of negro tutelage — and why? 
Because he could see at every corner of 
his city of refuge, negroes freezing and 
starving, and therefore could find no hu- 
manitarian argument in favor of thus 
changing the well fed and comfortable' 
condition of Southern negroes, who have 
good masters, and he had wit enough to 
know that, as far as the religious aspects 
of the case are concerned, all Bible be- 
lievers have long since learned that its 
sacred pages recognize the relation of the 
Southern negroes to their masters, and 
teach " Servants be obedient to your 
masters," and that Paul sent the fugitive 
slave Ouesimus back to his master Phil- 
emon, (although both were christians,) 
and that the Mosaic law fully recognized 
the relation of master and slave. Mr. 
Heifer also thinks the negro has been 
ably discussed by Northern genius in the 
form of novels. Now novels, everybody 
knows, are nothing but silly, strung-to- 
gether lies, manufactured by one set of 
fools to be swallowed by another set " of 
the same sort" — such, for instance, as 
" Uncle Tom's Cabin." We shall here 
take the liberty to suggest that the novel 
style of writing, where the imagination is 
confessedly drawn upon for alleged facts, 
is the only one by which Abolitionists can 
hope to accomplish anything in the way 
' of advancing their theories. But what a 
strange conglomeration! Both the "re- 
ligious" and "novel" argument recogni- 



zed as equally legitimate, in the same 
breath! This reminds us of the poesy 
that adorns the title page of the edition of 
Helper's Crisis, now before us. It con- 
sists, first of a quotation of the play-wri- 
ter Shakspeare, 

" Countrymen ! I sue for simple justice at your 

hands, 
Naught else I ask, nor less will have ; 
Act right, therefore, and yield my claim, 
Or, by the great God that made all things, 
I'll fight, till from my bones my flesh be hacked !" 

Shakspeare. 
and then follows : 

" The liberal deviseth liberal things. 

And by liberal things shall he stand." — Isaiah. 

How harmonious 1 First the fire and 
blood of the fanciful tragedian, and 
then, as secondary, the mild teachings of 
scripture ! The preference to Shakspeare 
over the Bible was probably given be- 
cause he had stolen a deer in his early 
days, and he therefore was deemed a more 
exalted model, by our philanthropic au- 
thor, than the Bible, which he gives a 
secondary place, because it teaches : — 

" Then shalt not steal * * •* 

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy 
neighbor. 

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, * * 
nor his man-servant nor his maid-servant, nor his 
ox, nor his ass; nor a»i»///ti7i^ that is thy neigh- 
bor's." — E.vodus XX. 15-17. 

" Yield my claim, or by the great God 
that made all things, I'll fight, till from 
my bones my flesh be hacked !" — ex- 
claims this fugitive, fustian Bombastes 
Furioso. Bat we trust that nobody will 
be seriously frightened by the furious 
threat. The fellow will fight only " in a 
Pickwickian sense." His sword is slang, 
his bullets balderdash, — words are his 
wads, and his ammunition gas. His 
threat means no more than when uttered 
for the thousandth time by the stage 
clown that caters to the motley crowd of 
the play-house. 

But not content with burlesquing even 

the comedian's farce, the creature takes 

scripture upon his slimy tongue — and 

" Steals the livery of th^ Court of Heaven, 
To serve the devil in i" 

As we perceive no pertinence in the 



passage he has profaned, we shall suggest 
to future publishers of the book, the con- 
text immediately preceding the quotation 
from Isaiah, as particularly appropriate: 

" The vile person shall no more be called liber- 
al, nor the churl said to be bountiful, 

" For the vile person will speak villainy, and his 
heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, 
and utter error against the Lord, to make empty 
the soul of the hungry ; and he will cause the drink 
of the thirsty to fail. 

" The instruments also of the churl are evil : he 
deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with 
lying words, even when the needy speaketh right." 
— Isaiah xxxii. 5-7 . 

Should future publishers of the book 
be willing to give the real bearing of sa- 
cred scripture upon the subject, we shall 
also suggest some other passages, such as: 

"Let as many servants as are under the yoke 
count their own masters worthy of all honour, that 
the name of God and his doctrine be not blas- 
phemed. 

" And they thathave believing masters, let them 
not despise them, because ihey are brethren ; but 
rather do them service, because they are faithful 
and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These 
things teach and exhort. 

" If any man teach otherwise, and consent not 
to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is accord- 
ing to godliness, 

"" He is proud, knowing nothing.but doting about 
questions and strifes of words, wherof cometh en- 
vy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 

" Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, 
and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is 
godliness : from such withdraw thyself." — 1st Tim- 
othy vi. 1-5. 

" Servants, obey in all things your masters, ac- 
cording to the flesh." — Col. iii. 22. 

" Exhort servants to be obedient unto thier own 
masters, and to please them well in all things, not 
answering again, 

" Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity." 
— Titus ii. 9, 10. 

" Servants, be subject to your masters, with all 
fear ; not only to the good and gentle, but also to 
the froward." — 1st Peter ii. 18. 

For the benefit of fugitive slaves, and 

of professing Christians who may meet 

with such, it may be well also to inscribe 

upon the title-page of the next edition of 

the Crisis, the following advice to Sarah's 

"fugitive slave:" 

" And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Re- 
turn to thy mistress, and submit thyself xmder her 
hands." — Genesis xvi. 9. 

Having thus pretty thoroughly reviewed 
the " Preface" of our author — and exhibi- 
ted the extent of his vaunted ^'honesty and 
long-settled convictions," and also the bear- 



ing of the Bible (from which he has filched 
and falsely applied a text, ) upon the sub- 
ject of which he treats; and also shown 
that he is not a Southern citizen ad- 
dressing his fellow non-slaveholders of 
the South, we have disarmed his dia- 
tribes of their chief force. For there is 
nothing new in his pretended revelations 
and reckless slanders upon the South. 
They are a mere re-hash and compilation 
of what has been often uttered by the Al> 
olition press of the North, and as often 
refuted — and even his incendiary advice 
and fiendish threats have often before 
been belched forth from Northern Aboli- 
tion presses and rostrums. The chief 
weight of the new work rested udou the 
assumed character of the author as a non- 
slaveholding citizen of the South, whose 
honesty and long settled convictions had 
constrained him to bear testimony against 
the institutions of his own and sister 
States of the South. We have shown 
that, instead of being a citizen of North 
Carolina, as claimed, he is a fugitive 
therefrom, residing in New York, or a 
wandering vagabond. Instead of writing 
his honest and long settled convictions, 
he had but a year or two before written 
the book entitled " Land of Gold," ad- 
vocating negro slavery in Central America 
and California; but, failing to make it 
pay, he tried the othei tack, and the 
"Impending Crisis" is thus but the re- 
sult of a mercenary effort to make money 
by libelling the land of his birth, and 
pandering to the morbid appetite of 
Northern fanaticism. 

We shall now close our Preface by ap- 
pending the following documents and sig- 
natures in proof of our assumption that 
the "Impending Crisis" has been duly 
adopted by the leaders of the " Republi- 
can" party as their text book for tbe 
campaign of 1860: 

New York, March 9, 1856. 

No other volume now before the public, as we 
conceive, is, in all respects, so well calculated to 
induce in the minds of its readers a decided and 
pers'stent repugnance to slavery, and a willing- 
ness to co-operate in the effort to restrain the 



8 



eharaeless advawies and hurtfal inflaence^ of that 

pernicious institution. 

Tlio extensive circulation of a copious compend 
of the work in question among tlie intelligent, Hb- 
erty-loving voters of the country, irrespective <.f 
party or locality, would, we believe, be produc- 
tive of most beneficial results ; and to this end we 
trust you will assist in carrying out a plan we 
liave devised for the gratuitous distribution of one 
hundred thousand copies of such a compend, 
which, if conti acted for and published, will con- 
tain about 200 pages, and be bound in pamphlet 
form. 

One hundred thousand copies of the contempla- 
ted compend, which, on about two hundred pages. 
would contain nearly all the matter now embraced 
in the regular volume, (which sells for one dollar 
per copy,) can be had, well printed on good pa- 
per, for f<ixleen cents ear/i— $16,000 in the aggre- 
gate. This amount we propose to raise in such 
Bums as yoxa and other good friends of a good 
cause IVfi disposed to subscribe. 

In kU cases, when convenient, contributors to 
the carit- will please make their subscriptions in 
liie fo! ". of drafts or certiticates of deposit, paya- 
ble to the order of the Hon. W. H. Anihon, 16 Ex- 
chiUige place. New York City, our treasurer and 
disbrn'ser, who will legularlj', through the columns 
of ihe 2ri6une, acknowledge the receipts of the 
same. 

Every person who subscribes ten dollars or 
more, will, if timely application be made, be enti- 
tled to as many copies of the compend lor distri- 
bution as he may desire, not exceeding the num- 
ber that the amount of his subscription would pay 
for at nett cost. 

Subscribers' names, with the sums severally 
subscribed by them, in all cases where the amount 
is ten dollars or more, will appear, alphabetically 
arranged, in the latter partof the compend. 

Coi respondence or personal interviews in rela- 
tion to this enterprise may be had with any one of 
the undersigned, who will be pleased to receive 
subscriptions in aid of its speedy consummation. 
An early response from you is earnestly solici- 
ted. WM. H. ANTHON, T'easurer, 
16 Exchange Place, N.Y. 

Samuel E. Sewell, Boston, Mass. 

Seth Padelfurd, Providence, E. I. 

Wm. H Tliomas, Philadelphia, Penu. 

Wra. McCaulley, Wilmington, Del. 

V/m. Gunnison, Baltimore, Md. 

Lewis Clephane.AVashinaton. D. C. 

Cassius M. Clay, Whitehall, Ky. 

Kraucis P. Blair, jr., St. Louis, Mo. 
The undersigned, having been appointed a com- 
mittee in New York, to aid in the circulation of 
Mr. llelpef's book, on the plan proposed above, 
beg 'cave to recommend the object to the public 
and r^oK their co-operation. 

Subscriptions maybe sent to the Hon. Wrfi. H. 
Anthon, of No. 16 Exchange place, New -York, 
directly or through either of the undersigned 

COMMITTEE: 
Ch&rles W. Elliott, Edgar Ketchum, 

David Dudley Field, Abram Wakemaxj, 
Charles A. Peabody, James Kelly, 
E. H. McCurdy, Benj. F. Mannierre, 

Wm. Curtis Noyea, James A. Briggs, 



■We, the undersigned, members of the House of 
Representatives of the National Congress, do cor- 
dially endorse the opinion and approve the enter- 
prise set forth in the foregoing circular : 
Schuyler Colfax, Anson Bnrlingame, 

Owen Lovt^i'oy, Amos P. Granger, 

Edwin B. Morgan, Galusha A. Grow, 

Joshua II. (iiddings, Edward Wade, 

Calviu C. Chaffee, Wm. H. Kelsey, 

Wm. A. Howard, Henry Waldron, 

John Sherman, George W. Palmer, 

Daniel W. Gooch, Henry L. Dawes, 

Justin S. Morrill, Israel Washburne, Jr., 

Johii A. Bingham, Vrilliam Kellogg, 

Elihu B. W{!shburne, Benjamin Stanton, 
Edward Dodd, Cydnor B. Thompkins, 

John Covode, Cadw. C. Washburne, 

Samuel G. Andrews, Abraham B. Olin, 
Sidney Dean, Nathaniel B. Durfee, 

Emory B. Potter, DeWitt C. Leach, 

John F. Potter, Tim. Davis, (Mass.) 

John F. Fornsworth, Chauucey L. Kuapp, 
Eeuben E. Fenton, Philemon Bliss, 

Mason W. Tappan, Charles Case, 

Timothy Davis, (Iowa,) James Pifee, 
Homer E. Eoyce, Isaiah D. Clawson, 

Ambrose S. Murray, Robert B. Hall, 
Valentine B. Horton, Freeman H. Morse, 
David Kilgore, William Stewart, 

Samuel R. Curtis, John M. Wood, 

John M. Parker, Stephen C. Poster, 

Chas. J. Gilman, (Jharles B. Hoard, 

John Thompson, Judson \V', Sherman, 

William D. Brayton, James Buffington, 
Orasmus B. Mattison, Richavd Mctt, 
George R Robbins, tzekiel P. Walton, 
James Wilson, Sam. E. Purviance, 

Francis E. Spinner, Silas M. Burroughs, 

Mr. Helper is a native of North Carolina, who, 
as the result of observation and extensive inquiry, 
has reached the very obvious and just conclusion 
that human slavery is the great primary curse and 
peril of ihe South, impeding its progress in mo- 
rals, intelligence, industry and wealth. This con- 
clusion, with the facts cu which it is founded, is 
embodied in his book entitled Tlie Impending Cri- 
sis of the South — a work everywhere r<jccived and 
hailtd b}'^ the ailvocates of free labor as one of the 
most impregnable demonstrations of the justice of 
their cause, and the vital importance of its tri- 
umph to our national and general well being. — 
Were every citizen in possession of the facts em- 
bodied in this book, we ftel confident that slavery 
would soon pass away, while aRepublican triumph 
in 1860 would bo morally certain. 

It is believed that this testimony of a Southern 
man, born and reared uuder the influence of slave- 
ry, will be more generally listened to aud pro- 
foundly heeded, whether in the slave or free States, 
than any equally able aud conclnsive work writ- 
ten by a Northern man. And it is very desirable, 
therefore, that a cheap compend of its C( ntents, 
fitted for gratuitous circulation, be now made and 
generally diffused in those States — Pennsylvania, 
New Jersey, Indiana and Illinois — which are to de- 
cide the next Presidential coutest. 
Horace Greeley, E. Delafield Smith, 

John Jay, B. S. Hedrick, 

Wm. Henry Anthon, John C. Underwood, 
Xhurlow Weed, E. H. McCurdy, 



9 



James Kelley, Chairman John A. Kennedy, 
State Central Com. Abram Wakeman, 
Wm. C. Bryant, Wm. Curtis Noyes, 

Marcus Spring. 
Senator Seward furnished a certificate to the 
merits of this work, in the following encouragiug 
terms : 

" I have read the ' Impending Crisis of the South' 
with deep attention. It seems to be a work of 
great merit, rich, yet accurate, in statistical infor- 
mation, and logical in analysis." 



CHAPTER I. 

The author or publisher of the Crisis 
thus analyses the contents of his first 
chapter: 

"COMP/BISON BKTWEEK THE FKEE AND SLATE 
STATES. 

" Progress and Prosperity of the North — Inertness 
and Imbecility of ihe South — The True Cause 
and the Remedy— Quantity and Value of the 
Agricultural Pre ducts of the two Sections— Im- 
portant Statistics— Wealth, PLCvenue, and p;x- 
penditure of the several States — Sterling Ex- 
tracts and General Remarks on Free and Slave 
Labor — The Immediate Abolition of Slavery the 
True Policy of the South." 

Before enterinj:!^ upon our review of this, 
chapter, we shall correct a too common 
phraseologjcal error in designating the 
Northern and Western or nou-slavehold* 
lug States as the "Free States," distinc- 
tively from those of the South. All per- 
sons, who are at all acquainted with the 
laws and institutions of the several States 
of the Union, are well aware that, so far 
as white citizens are concerned, they are 
more free, and individual rights and im- 
munities more freely permitted and more 
fally protected in the Southern than in 
the Eastern or Northern States. The 
latter have made many innovations upon 
the primitive republican institutions estab- 
lished by our fathers of the Revolutionary 
era, and materially modified their respec- 
tive Constitutions in such a manner as to 
enlarge the powers of their Legislatures 
almost unlimitedly, and thus thrown down 
the bulwarks erected to defend the rights 
of persons and property against legislative 
aggression. Northern Legislatures exer- 
cise almost or quite as much arbitrary 
power as the autocrat of Russia or others 
of the most despotic powers of Europe, in 
the matter of taxation, and appropria- 
tions of the people's money, in some States 



amounting to millions annually, are made 
for purposes entirely foreign to the objects 
of State government. State debts, in 
some instances, amounting to a twentieth 
of the aggregate assessment of real and 
personal property, have been fastened 
upon the toiling masses, who are com- 
pelled each year to pay a more heavy 
percentage of their earnings to meet the 
constantly increasing profligacy of cor- 
rupt governments, growing out of th(i ab- 
rogation of the original Constitutions, 
which most narrowly defined the powers 
of Legislatures. In some of these States 
(as New York, for instance) the taxes 
have doubled regularly every five or ten 
year.", and there seems to be no remedy 
but revolution that can ever arrest the 
rapidly increasing oppression — that com- 
pels honest toilers each year to give more 
and more of their time, labor and money 
to meet the demands of tbeir worse than 
Egyptian taskmasters. City and village 
corporations, county courts and boards of 
officers have likewise been empowered, in 
Northern States, to issue bonds mortga- 
ging the property of citizens without their 
consent, for every conceivable purpose. 

And how is it in the South? Why 
the State 'debts of all the Southern 
States taken together do not amount to 
as much as the public debt of New 
York alone, iuchicling State and City 
bonds! The Southern States have gene- 
rally preserved ttieir primitive Constitu- 
tions, or adopted lundamental laws that 
throw such protection around the rights 
of property that their people are not a 
prey, as in the North, to every stupen- 
dous scheme of speculating sharks, shrewd 
and corrupt enough to bribe and buy up 
Legislatures. Neither have the Southern 
States yet been victimised by any of the 
New Eugland isms — such as Maine-laws, 
Sunday-laws, &c., for the invasion of the 
natural rights of man, while such laws 
have infringed the personal freedom of 
the citizens of all the Northern States, to 
a greater or less degree. 

If the words " Free" and " Slave" were 



10 



designed to distinguish the respective con- 
ditions of the white citizens of the two 
sections of our Union, we should be com- 
pelled to concede the distinction of " Free"> 
to the superior claims of the South. But, 
the words are applied distinctively of the 
North and South solely with reference to 
the condition of the negro race. Hence 
it must be evident the designation of the 
North, in contra-distinction from the 
South, where the words free and slave 
are used, should be ^'free-negro and ne- 
gro-slave States." As all the Southern 
States provide kind masters for the ne- 
groes, the word Southern would be more 
brief and equally expressive. The bet- 
ter expression, then, would be " Free- 
negro and Southern State-^'." 

Not content with the claim of honesty 
and "long-settled convictions," which he 
arrogates to himself in his preface, and 
which we have already answered, our au- 
thor, in the outset of his first chapter, fur- 
thermore claims that his " ancestors have 
resided in North CaroUna between one 
and two hundred years." Now, in ans- 
wer to this claim, upon which he bases the 
assumption that it makes his prejudices 
lean towards the South, we shall offset 
our Puritanic lineage, which dates from 
Capt. Miles Standish, of the Mayflower, 
so that we go back to Plymouth rock — 
and our "ancestors have resided in New 
England and New York for" two hun- 
dred and forty years. We still dare re- 
side in the land of our birth, and trust 
that we shall never prove traitor to the 
rights, or interests of our own or any oth- 
er section of the Union. We neither 
claim nor accord credit to any for any 
ancestral virtues ; but if, in the estima- 
tion of any, there is merit attaching 
to his nativity, that tends to strength- 
en his wicked assault and slanders of the 
South, we think we are entitled to equal 
benefit from our own more ancient New 
England lineage, in repelhng those cal- 
umnies. 

The first essay of our author is a com- 
parison of the States of New York and 



Virginia, the latter having eet out in ' 
1190 with a larger population than the 
former, while in 1850 New York had dou- 
ble the population of Virginia. Now this 
result, any sensible man can see, might j 
naturally have arisen from geographical i 
location. The New England States were 
already beginning, as early as 1190, to 
send off emigrants to the West, which 
New York was then considered. From 
this source, alone, New York might have 
been expected to increase more rapidly in 
population than another State having no 
influx by immigration, but on the other 
hand supplying those now populous States, 
Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and 
Missouri, as did Virginia, with pioneer 
settlers. Aside from this, however, there 
is another more prohfic cause for the in- 
crease of population in New York, viz : 
The fact that New York City, having su- 
perior advantages to any American port 
upon the Atlantic seaboard, has almost 
monopolized the commercial communica- 
tion of the western world with Europe, 
and has thus been the great American 
depot at which the millions of foreign im- 
migrants have landed, and so contribu- 
ted to swell the population of the surround- 
ing country. Virginia, upon the other 
hand, never had a seaport to rival New 
York, Boston or Philadelphia. 

He next contrasts the imports of New 
York and Virginia in 1190 and 1853. — 
At the former period the imports of either 
were quite insignificant, while Boston and 
Philadelphia, at that time received most 
of our imports, either of them far exceeding 
New York. Now, why did not our author 
contrast the growth of Boston with that of 
New York and other cities both North 
and South, and endeavor to assign the 
causes of the disparity? Boston was once 
the largest city in America, and monopo- 
lized most of the imports, and shipped 
most of the exports of the western world. 
It has been the most fanatical, puritanic, 
abolition city in the Union, and surround- 
ed by a community of the same sort. In- 
stead of having consequently excelled all 



11 



other cities of the Union, it has fallen 
back to a seventh rate position. It is 
now exceeded in population by New York, 
Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Cincinnati and 
Chicago at the North, and by Baltimore, 
St. Louis and New Orleans at the South. 

Helper next compares the manufactures 
of New York with those of Virginia, and 
chuckles over the excess of the former, as 
though a densely settled State, which 
does not produce half the agricultural 
staples consumed by its population, should 
not manufacture more than a State whoso 
chief surplus is in agricultural products. 
This is too silly to require serious com- 
ment, as is also his following comparison 
of the assessed valuation of real and per- 
sonal property in the two States: the more 
densely populated State would naturally 
excel in both. 

As to the extract from the message of 
a Governor of Virginia, the same senti- 
ment might have been expressed by a 
Governor of Massachusetts in deploring 
the growth of New York, Philadelphia, 
Baltimore, New Orleans or St. Louis over 
that of Boston. 

Massachusetts and North Carolina are 
next selected as extreme cases for contrast, 
Massachusetts in 1790 having contained 
a population of 378,117, while North Car- 
olina had 393,751. Sixty years later, in 
1850, Massachusetts had 994,514, while 
North Carolina had 869,039, the latter 
State having meantime contributed largely 
to the population and settlement or Ten- 
nessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, 
and other States, and having no influx 
from foreign immigration, like Massachu- 
setts, through Boston, which was for some 
time, subsequent to 1790, the principal 
port of arrival for European immigrants. 
A wonderful disparity, truly, under the 
circumstances! Then follows a similar 
comparison of other details, as in the case 
of New York and Virginia already replied 
to; and Pennsylvania and South Caroliua 
are n'^xt contrasted in the same manner. 
No other extreme cases appearing to favor 
the object in view, the author carries his 



contrasts no further. No Northern State 
is contrasted with Georgia, Alabama, 
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, 
Kentucky, Missouri and Arkansas — the 
growth of the population and wealth of 
those States having far exceeded the 
average of the New England and Middle 
States. 

Erom such premises he argues that the 
disparity between the growth of the North 
and that of the South is the result of negro 
slavery in the latter. Did he not know, 
or did he seek to disguise the fact, that, 
during most of the period he cites, both 
New York and Pennsylvania held slaves 
ifi. large numbers, and that during the 
period when they held most slaves their 
growth in population was in a much great- 
er ratio than afterwards ? In 1790, the 
population of New York was 340,120. 
In 1820, thirty years afterwards, it was 
1,372,812, the increase having been more 
than fourfold. For the next thirty years 
after the abolition of negro slavery, the 
ratio of increase was but half as great, 
the populatiou of New York, in 1850, 
having been 3,097,394, but little more 
than double that of thirty years previous. 
Pennsylvania, in 1790, had a population 
of 434,373. During the next thirty years, 
in which negro slavery existed in that 
State, its population increased nearly 150 
per cent., having been 1,049,458, in 1820; 
and during the next thirty years the ratio 
of increase was about, thirty per cent, less, 
having been but 2,311,786, in 1850. The 
same ratio of increase in the assessed val- 
uation of property will be found to have 
followed the increase of population during 
the periods above referred to. If, there- 
fore, negro slavery regulates the increase 
of popuiatiou and wealth, it must be ad- 
mitted that it tends to increase both rath- 
er than diminish them, as attested by the 
history of New York and Pennsylvania. 

Now, let us compare a few Southern 

States with New York and Pennsylvania, 

from 1820 to 1850: 

Pop. in 1820. In 1850. Ratio of increase 

i Alabama 127,901. .771,623 sixfold. 

[ Arkansas 14,273. .209,897 fifteenfold. 



12 



Georgia 340,987. .906, 185. nearly threefold. 

Louisiana 153,407. .517,762. . over do 

Mississippi 75,448. .606,326. . do eightfold. 

Missouri 66,586. ,682,044. . do tenfold. 

Tennessee 422,8131,002,717.. do doable. 

It will be seen that, all the above South- 
ern slave-holding States more than dou- 
bled their population during the thirty 
years preceding the last United States 
census. In 1820 Massachusetts had a 
population of 523,287, and in 1850 only 
994,514, lacking over 50,000 of doubling 
in thirty years. New York and Pennsyl- 
vania but little more than doubled their 
population within the same time. These 
are the three States selected by Helper to 
contrast in their growth with the slave- 
holding States. From causes entirely for- 
eign to the matter of ne.iro slavery they 
compared favorably in contrast with the 
three Southern States he selected; but 
how do they compare with the seven we 
have cited? 

So much for our author's statistics thus 
far. Now for his ethics. He enumerates 
a great variety of articles manufactured 
at the North, for which he says the South 
are dependent. How so? Are they not 
paid for, and is not the trade as beneficial 
— and more so — to the North than to the 
South? The New England and Middle 
States, being so densely populated that 
they do not produce food enough from 
their soil to sustain them, are as much de- 
pendent upon the South and West as their 
chief customers, to purchase their manu- 
factures, and thus enable them to procure 
the necessaries of life. Neither are whol- 
ly dependent on the other. Should the 
manufacturers of the North be so insane 
as to refuse to accept the orders of South- 
ern merchants for their fabrics, they could 
be easily obtained elsewhere. So, should 
the Southern people refuse to purchase 
Northern manufactures, they would find 
market elsewhere. But, while neither is 
wholly dependent on the other, both are 
mutually benefitted by the interchange of 
commodities. 

Helper assumes the superior prosperity 
of the North over that of the South, and 



parades several pages of statistics by 

which he attempts to prove his position. 

Let us look at them. He first takes up ' 

the articles of Wheat, Oats, Indian Corn, 

Potatoes, Rye, Barley, Buckwheat, Beans, 

and Peas, Clover and Grass seeds. Flax 

seeds, Garden and Orchard products, and 

sums up them as follows: 

" Bushela. Value. 

' Free States,'.. 499,190,041 $351,709,703 

'Slave States,'. 481,766,889 306,927,067 



Bal. in bushels.. 17,423,152 Diff. in value. 44,782,636 
Over this excess of Northern products 
he makes a great ado; but by reference 
to the population table given upon page 
144 of his own book, and accessible to 
any schoolboy who has a geography and 
atlas, it will be seen that the population 
of the States he designates as " Free," 
viz: the New England States, with New 
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, 
Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, In- 
diana and California, contain i; popula- 
tion of 13,434,922 

And the " Slave States" 9,612,979 

Difference 3,821,948 

Thus it will be seem ihe population of 
those States he designates as " Free" is 
about three-sevenths greater than that of 
those he designates as " Slave," while 
their total products of the articles he has 
chosen first for contrast is but a seventh 
greater! The difference is, therefore, in 
favor of the Southern States to the enor- 
mous extent of two-sevenths. Hence the 
advantage in favor of the Southern States 
amounts to about eighty million of dollars! 

So much for the first appeal to statis- 
tics. Now for his next, in which he se- 
lects for comparison the articles of Hay, 
Hemp, Hops, Flax, Maple sugar, Tobac- 
co, Wool, Butter and Cheese, Beeswax 
and Honey, Cotton, Cane, Sugar, Rice, 
(rough.) These he sums up as follows: 

Pounds. Value. 

'Free States' 28,878,064,902 
'Slave States' 4,338,370,661 



$214,422,523 
155,223,415 



Bal. in fts.. .24,539,694,241 Dif. inval. $59,199,108 

Here, again, a brief arithmetical opera- 



13 



tion will sbow the difference to be more 
than $7,300,000 in favor of the South, in 
proportion to population. For evidence, 
add three-sevenths to the products of the 
South, to correspond with the difference 
of population, and we have the following 
result: 

Southern products $155,223,415 

Three-sevenths added 66,524, ;)20 

Amount that a population equal to 
that of the North would produce 
in the ratio of Southern thrift 221,747,735 

What the population of the North 
does produce 214,422,523 

Northern deficiency $7,325,212 

His next essay is a comparison of the 
products per acre, which, of course, is a 
matter depending almost altogether upon 
the fertility and price of land, and density 
of population, stimulating more or less 
expensive culture. But notwithstanding 
the denser population of the North, his 
own tables show that in the quantity of 
wheat raised to the acre, Texas and Flor- 
ida equal Pennsylvania, and excel every 
other Northern State but Massachusetts, 
which is accredited with one bushel per 
acre more, the dense population and high 
price of l|ind stimulating to more expen- 
sive culture. Tlie slaveholding States, 
Delaware, Maryland, Florida, Missouri 
and Texas, excel the non-slaveholding 
States, Maine and Michigan; and Dela- 
ware and Missouri equal New Hampshire, 
New Jersey and Illinois. Such results 
being exhibited by an examination of the 
first article he has selected for comparison, 
(according to his own table, — page 35,) 
as to the product per acre, North and 
South, we shall not waste time nor space 
to follow up his items of Oats, Rye, Indi- 
an Corn and Irish Potatoes, — all naturally 
more productive in the latitude of the 
Northern States. We might as well 
and as fairly, in lieu of them, select sweet 
or Carolina potatoes, which are doubly 
as prolific at the South as the Irish pota- 
toes, while they can scarcely be raised at 
all in a majority of the Northern States. 
As to Indian corn, it is well known that 
the kind raised at the South requires dou- 



ble the space between the hills, and con- 
sequently produces less ears to the acre; 
but the stalks being twice as tall and 
thrifty as those of the Northern or yellow 
corn, it is a more valuable crop for the 
South, where its blades and tops are made 
to answer the purpose of hay at the North, 
being the chief food for cattle in winter. 

He next compares the value of live 
stock, animals slaughtered, and farms, im- 
plements and machinery; and here are his 
figures : 

Livestock. Slaughtered. 

" Free States" $286,376,641 $56,990,237 

"Slave States" 253,723,687 54,388,377 

Difference 32,652,854 2,601,860 

Now, as to these items, it will be seen 
the difference, estimating proportion of 
population, is vastly in favor of the South, 
as before. To correspond with the value 
of live stock in the South, in proportion 
to population, that in the North would 
require to be over a hundred miUions of 
dollars more; and the value of animals 
annually slaughtered would require to be 
over twenty millions of dollars more than 
the above figures show. 

Let it be recollected, that, in following 
Helper in comparing the products of the 
North and South, and qualifying his com- 
parisons by an exhibition of the relative 
populations of the two sections, we have 
included in the population of the South 
3,200,364 slaves. Excluding them from 
the count, we have the startling result of 
twice as great proportionate production 
per capita, by the white population of the 
South, making their relative thrift double 
that of the North! Such is the astound- 
ing result of analysing Helper's own sta- 
tistics, and stripping them of the thin 
gauze of sophistry, in which he had dis- 
guised them for the Northern market. 

Now we come to the grand crowning 
capstone of his statistical folJy, in con- 
trasting the value of " Farms, Farming 
Implements, and Machinery," which he 
does as follows: 

" Free States " $2,233,058,619 

" Slave States" 1,IS3,995,274 

1,049,0U3,345 



14 



It is well known that "Implements and 
Machinery" constitute heavy items of ag- 
ricultural investment in the Xon-slavehold- 
ing States. Why then were they mixed 
up with the "value of farms," since they 
are given separately in the Census tables? 
Why were they not left to offset against 
the value of the three million negro 
slaves of the South, that have been 
reared and provided for by South- 
ern capital, and which represent 
an average of value, or outlay, or invest- 
ment, of at least $500 apiece? Who 
would provide for and rear negroes to an 
age when they can earn their keeping, 
(taking the chances of losing them by 
death or being burdened with expense for 
them by accident, disease or deformity,) 
for less? Why were not those items 
of the North reserved by our sage statis- 
tician, to oifset this great, benevolent, 
magnanimous and magnificent investment 
of the South,amountiug to at least $ 1,500,- 
,000,000? — enough "to buy all the real 
estate, cities, shipping and machinery of 
New England? Because, forsooth, they 
had to be thrown into the scale to make 
the " Farms" of the North approx- 
imate in proportionate value those of 
the South 1 The white population of the 
South in 1850, was but 6,184,477, while 
that of the North was 13,233,670— more 
than double— and yet the value of North- 
ern Farms with all our Implements and 
Machinery thrown in, lacks $134,931,929 
of equalling the same proportion to pop- 
ulation of Southern Farms and Farming 
Implements and Machinery ! 

Now, having waded through the turbid 
waters of Helper's muddy statistics, and 
set up beacons and buoys to guard the 
honest enquirer for truth against being be- 
fogged and bogged and beached by his 
" wrecker's lights," we shall give the true 
statistics of Northern and Squthern pro- 
ducts. Hitherto we have follbwed Help- 
er's statistics without a word of demur 
or the alteration of a single figure. He 
says his tables are the result of great re- 
search and vast labor, although he gives 



no authority for them other than his own 
averral. It is an old axiom that "a man 
that will lie will steal." If the converse 
be true, that a man that will steal will lie, 
we should always require some reference 
for facts and figures from any man that 
we do not know to be entirely clear of the 
crime of stealing. Our reasons for fol- 
lowing Helper, thus far, with his own sta- 
tistics, has been that out of his own mouth 
we might condemn him. Now, however, 
we shall leave him and his garbled, disho- 
nest and deceptive array of statistics, to 
show from a synopsis published in a recent 
issue of tlie Washington Constitution, 
from the official records of the State De- 
partment, what have been the exports of 
the two sections. North and South, during 
the past year. It is a trite but true say- 
ing that "it is not what we earn, but 
what v/e save, that makes us rich;" and, 
as of individuals, so of States. Even were 
it true that the North produced more than 
the South, her forty per cent, greater 
population would very naturally consume 
forty per cent, more of her productions. 
By tbe following authentic statistics we 
shall see what is saved for export, or what 
is the nett surplus of the North and of 
the South. This will be worth more than 
volumes of details relative to beans_, peas 
and peanuts; and all who really wish to 
learn the relative wealth and prosperity 
of both the North and South will do well 
to consider the facts and figures contained 
in this latest authentic account before the 
public : 

The exports of tbe last fiscal year, embracing 
specie and Americau produce, amounted to $335,- 
894,885 ; in addition to which we also exported 
something over twenty millions of foreign produce , 
making all of our exports above $356,000,000, and 
exceeding our imports for the same period a frac- 
tion over $18,000,000. 
The specie and American produce ex- 
ported were ^335,894,385 

Specie 67,502,305 

The amount of produce consequently 

exporfed was 278,392,080 

Of which the non-slaveholding States 

produced as follows : 
Fisheries — embracing spermaceti and 

whale oils, dried and salt fish 4,462,974 

Coal 653,536 



15 



Ice 



164,581 



Exclusive products of free negro States. 5,281,091 

The following articles are produced both in the 
free negro and slave States : 

Products of the forest — embracing 
staves and headings, shingles, 
boards, plank, and scantling, hewn 
timber, other timber, oak bark and 
other dye, all manufactures of wood, 
ashes, ginseng, skins and^furs 12,099,967 

Of animals — beef, tallow, hides, horn- 
ed cattle, butter, cheese, pork.hams 
and bacon, lard, wool, hogs, horses, 
mules, and sheep 15,549,817 

Wheat, flour, Indian meal, rye, oats 
and other small grain, and pulse, 
biscuit, or shop bread, potatoes, 
apples aad onions 22,437,573 

Refined sugar, wax, chocolate, spirits 
from grain, do. molasses, do. other 
materials, vinegar, beer, ale, porter, 
and cider in casks and bottles, lin- 
seed oil, household furniture, car- 
riages and parts, railroad cars and 
parts, hats of fur and silk, do. palm 
leaf, saddlery, trunks and valises, 
adamantine and other candles, soap, 
snuflf, tobacco manufactured, gun- 
powder, leather, boots and shoes, 
cables and coidage, salt, lead, iron, 
pig, bar, nails, castings, and all 
manufactures of, copper, brass, and 
manufactures of, drugs and medi- 
cines, cotton piece goods, printed 
or colored, white other than duck, 
dack pnd all manufactures of, hemp, 
thread, bags, cloth, and other man- 
ufactures of, wearing apparel, earth- 
en and stone ware, combs and but- 
tons, brooms and brushes of all 
kinds, billiard tables and apparatus, 
umbrellas, parasols and sunshades, 
morocco and other leather not sold 
by the pound, fire engines, printing ' 
presses and type, musical instru- 
ments, books and maps, paper and 
stationery, paints and varnish, jew- 
elrv, other manufactures of gold 
and silver, glass, tin, pewter, and 
lead, marble and stone, brick, lime, 
and cement, India-rubber shoes and 
manufactures, lard oils, oil cake, ar- 
tificial flowers 30 197 274 

Articles not mentioned, manufactured 2 274 652 
Raw produce 1,858',205 



Total, free negro and negro slave States 84,417,493 

PRODCCTS OF NEQKO SLAVE STATES EXCLUSIVELY. 

S°"o° 161,434,923 

Tobacco 21,074,038 

Rosm and turpentme 3 654 416 

Rice •••••... 2',207',148 

Tar and pitch 141058 

Brown sugar 196,935 



Molasses ■ 
Hemp 



75,699 
9,279 



Total products of negro slave States 188,693,45:1 . 

RECAPITULATION. 

Free negro States, exclusively 5,281,091 

Free negro and negro slave States 84,417,493 

Negro slave States, exclusively 188,693,496 

Total 278,392.080 

It will be seea by analysis that, of the 
$84,417,493 worth of articles enumerated 
above as the joint production of the Free- 
negro and Slave States, that probably 
half — certainly one third — are the pro- 
ducts of the latter. The South then fur- 
nishes at least $200,000,000 worth of the 
aggregate exports of the products of do- 
mestic industry in the United States, 
amounting altogether to $278,392,080. 
This may somewhat startle and astonish 
fanatical dupes of sectional demagogues 
at the iS'orth, and especially those who 
have been deceived by Helper's fraudulent 
statistics; but facts are stubborn things. 
One fact is worth forty theories; and 
such is the unalterable and indubitable 
grand aggregate result of the facts and 
figures showing the surplus of nett earn- 
ings, both Xorth and South! 

Over each table of his fraudulently ar- 
ranged statistics our author stops to 
cackle, like a hen over a new laid egg, — 
to chuckle over the falsely pretended de- 
ficiency of his " dear native South," and 
to indulge in a few pages of frothing and 
foaming against the " lords of the lash," 
as he designates the kind masters Provi- 
dence has placed in charge of the millions 
of happy sous of Africa, who are so 
much more fortunate than any others of 
their race, as to have their lines cast in 
such pleasant places. We shall not at 
present stop to comment upon his churl- 
ish abuse, but expose the entire falsity of 
his statistical argument first, as it is upon 
the false deductions therefrom that all his 
balderdash is based. "We may after- 
wards, perhaps, pluck some of the flowers 
of rhetoric of this pink of perdition, and 
arrange them into a boquet of infamy to 
throw upon the coffin containing all that 
shall then remain of the " Crisis." 



16 



We have already shown that the ta- 
bles given by Helper exhibit, in every in- 
stance, an immense excess of production 
on the part of the South, in proportion to 
population. That this is the ease even 
with those articles which he has selected 
for contrast, as most favorable to the 
North, is indeed remarkable, and proves 
the wonderfully superior agricultural thrift 
of the South. It is not necessary, there- 
fore, for us to select other classes of arti- 
cles and weary the patience of oar read- 
ers with detailed statistics, in order to es- 
tablish what v/e have thus been able to 
demonstrate so clearly even with his own 
selection of articles, and by the use of 
his own array of figures. We shall, how- 
ever, take up the chief item that he has 
chosen for comparison, as an illustration 
of the unfairness and fraudulency of his 
whole argument, inasmuch as ttiis item 
alone amounts in value, according to his 
figures and deductions, to more than all 
the otJitr articles of agricultural f reduce 
of the North, taken together ! 

On his 45th page he thus introduces 
this wonderful item : 

" We can prove, and intend to prove, from facts 
in our own possession, that the HAY crop of the 
Free States is worth considerably more iu dollars 
and cents, thati all the cotton, tobacco, rice, hay 
and hemp produced in the fifceeu Slave States." 

To this item he devotes over twenty 
pages of his book ; and, indeed, it may 
be considered the most prominent feature 
of the work. He could not have selected 
a better article with which to cram the 
Abolition asses of the North, or to offer 
to mulish donkeys of the South. Who, 
that has met with a political mule, either 
North or South, since the issue of Help- 
er's book, has not found his mouth full of 
Helper's Hay ? Tell him that Southern 
exports of cotton alone amount to several 
times the entire exports of Northern man- 
ufactures and agricultural produce, or 
that Southern exports of Tobacco alone 
amount to more ttan the total of all 
the agricultural exports of tho North, and 
when he opens his mouth you will find it 
fall of Helper's Hay ! Now it may be 



cruel to rob these creatures of the cud 
they have so long been accustomed to 
chew, and ruminate, after the manner of 
their quadruped brothers in intellect ; but 
the unpleasant duty devolve on us, and 
we shall thoroughly discharge it. 

Helper says Hay sometimes sells for 
$33 per ton in Savannah ; for $26 per 
ton in Mobile and Isqw Orleans ; for $25 
in Charleston, and iti Cincinnati for $23. 
Now we happen to know that in Hay 
producing regions the average value of 
this article, in the stack or mow, fwith- 
out adding cartage or freight,, does not 
amount to one-third the lowest of these 
prices, one year with another. Even 
here, in Orange County, but two or three 
hours ride from New York, the most pop- 
ulous city of America, it seldom reaches 
or exceeds $10 per ton for the best quali- 
ty on the farm, while the poorer qualities 
of coarse bay are often given away. On 
the Jersey flats, near New York city, it 
may be had for a mere trifle beyond the 
price of cutting and curing. Taking good 
and poor qualities together, and also av- 
eraging the prices of various localities, $5 
per ton would be found far above the mar- 
ketable price. But, in order to be very 
magnanimous, after having quoted the 
maximum prices at Charleston, Savannah, 
Mobile, &c., (to which markets small 
quantities are sometimes shipped, with an 
expense of five or ten hundred per cent 
for cartage, pressing, freight and commis- 
sions,) Helper fixes the average value of 
Hay, — good, bad and indifferent — wild 
grass, bog-hay, &c., — at half a cent per 
pound, or $11,20 per tori ! Magnanimous 
man ! Why, within view of the window 
at which we write, thousands of acres of 
wild grass are annually burnt, in the fail, 
from the drowned lands of Orartge Coun- 
ty, after everybody has cut and carried 
away what they want, without charge, or 
for a mere nominal consideration. Every 
ton of triis gift hay, taken account of in 
1850, is estimated by Helper at $11,20 
per ton. Millions on millions of the same 
sort are included in his Hay statistics. 



n 



Three-fourths of the Hay producing 
regions are so far from market, and the 
article itself so bulky and unwieldy that 
it could not be conveyed to Charleston or 
any other available market for all it would 
fetch — even though of the best quality. 

Three-fourths of the Hay of the North, 
therefore, even of the best quality, has 
only a local value, and would not pay for 
taking to a market where it could be sold 
for money. As well might Helper, or 
some other soft-shelled and jelly-brained 
philosopher, make an estimate of the solid 
measure of the timber and wood of the 
wilderness forests of the great West, and 
rating the timber at the prices current in 
Europe or at the Atlantic ship-yards, and 
the wood at the price per cord in our large 
cities, a thousand miles distant, contend 
that the unsettled wilderness (that may 
be bought at $1.25 per acre, without find 
ing purchasers, ) is worth several thousand 
dollars per acre. But, unfortunately for 
such logic. Western owners of surplus 
timber-land have to pay almost the price 
of land at the East to have this valuable 
timber cut off and burned in huge bon- 
fires, and the stumps torn up or burned off. 

According to Helper's logic the wild 
woodlands of Western Texas, or Ark- 
ansas, or Missouri, (all slave-holding 
States,) are worth far more than all 
the Hay, Cotton, Tobacco, Rice, or 
even the cities and shipping of the 
North and South together, just multi- 
ply the millions of millions of cubic feet of 
timber, and cords of wood in the great 
West, by the number of dollars they 
would readily bring in New York, and 
you will have an amount that would buy 
out all the Atlantic States, both North 
and South. Such is the result of follow- 
ing out Helper's Northern Hay philosophy. 

But there is another feature of this 
Northern Hay monstrosity that must have 
been beyond the comprehension of our nar- 
row-brained noodle. He does not pretend 
to give the statistics of Northern Hay ex- 
ported. It would not be enough to pay for 
the Southern tobacco smoked in New York 



in a smgle month; and it happens that 
the Slave-holding States of Delaware and 
Maryland send more hay into the non- 
laveholding State of Pennsylvania, (Phil- 
adelphia,) than all the Northern States 
send to the South. What then becomes of 
this immense crop, which Helper values 
above the aggregate exports of Southern 
produce? Why, it is all fed to Northern 
horses and cattle during our long winters ! 
But unfortunately for our niggerite philos- 
opher — according to his own table — the 
footings up of which we have already 
given — it appears that the North annually 
slaughters only about an equal amount of 
stock, and has but little more than the 
South — or only about half the amount in 
proportion to population. Yet this great 
and valuable crop of Hay, which Helper 
values at $214,422,523, is all eaten up by 
Northern Live Stock, and it is therefore 
included in his estimate of the value of 
Live St6ck and Slaughtered. The reader 
may readily refer to the figures given in a 
former part of this chapter, from Helper's 
own tables, (which he copied from the 
Census returns of 1850,) showing that the 
value of " Live Stock and Slaughtered," 
both North and South, for the year pre- 
ceding the Census of 1850, was as follows: 

Live Stock. Slaughtered. 

" Free States" $286,376,541 $56,990,237 

"Slave States" 253,723,687 64,388,377 



1 Difference 32,652,854 2,601,860 

Thus it will be seen that in the nett an- 
nual results of Stock by slaughtering, the 
North and South are about equal, thus 
making the proportion, compared with 
with white population, doubly in favor of 
the South.- AH the unslaughtered Stock 
are only valuable for their earnings or in- 
crease, which are included under different 
heads in Helper's tables. , 

Now it is evident that inasmuch as the 
South has about the same amount of 
Stock as the North, (and doubly as gi-eat 
in proportion to population,) that Stock 
must be maintained at the South as 
well as at the North. We have already 
shown that the North sends no more Hay 



18 



to the South than the South sends to the 
North — the amount transported either way 
beihg but trivial. How is it then that 
the South — raising so small a proportion 
of this wonderful article of Hay, in com- 
parison with the North, yet slaughters as 
much stock annually, and keeps double the 
quantity in proportion to population? The 
answer is easy. In most of the Southern 
States it is scarcely necessary to cut Hay 
at all — the Stock beiilg pastured nearly all 
the year, and fed on cuts and strippiugs 
of corn fodder during the short time 
that they are not pastured. At the 
North, on the other hand, where cattle, 
can be pastured but half the year, it is 
necessary to cut and cure Hay, to keep 
them up during our long winters, while 
Southern Stock are grazing. Hence, if 
Nor^ern Hay — consumed by Northern 
Stock — is to be valued among Northern 
products, any person possessed of intellect 
above an idiot, must see that the South- 
ern pasture and corn-stalks and strippings, 
by which an equal amount of stock is main- 
tained, must be estimated in equal ratio. 
But here may be seen one of the advantages 
of the South, and one of the reasons why 
the agriculturists of that section are able 
to surpass the North so greatly in propor- 
tion to population. While at the North it 
is necessary to cut and dry /grass, cart, 
stack, or mow it away, at a great expense, 
at the South, where vegetation is almost 
perennial, this immense outlay of labor and 
expense is entirely unnecessary, as cattle 
are able to graze nearly the whole year 
round. For the brief interval from fall to 
spring grass, the cuttings and strippings 
of the mammoth corn-stalks of the South 
suffice to sustain the stock upon the farms, 
so that hay is but little needed or used at 
the South, except in cities. 

Hay, then, is only a necessity of the 
North, in consequence of our long winters ; 
and is fed out to and eaten up by Northern 
horses and cattle, while the same class of 
animals in the sunny South are cutting 
their own grass fresh from the green fields, 
or fefr a few weeks feeding upon corn fodder 



and other crops. As the North and 
South have and amiually slaughter about 
equal amounts of stock — the latter doubly 
as much in proportion to white population 
— and since Northern cattle consume the 
entire Hay crop, it will be perceived that 
it is precisely and exactly counterbalanced 
by the additional pasturage, corn-stalks, 
&c., consumed by Southern Stock while 
Northern horses and cattle are eating up 
the Hay that Helper makes the chief item 
of Northern produce. Not only is this 
great Hay item, therefore, counterpoised 
by several months' longer pasturage at the 
South, but it is really included in his pre- 
vious statistics of the value of Uve and 
slaughtered stock of the North, by which 
the Hay is annually consumed. 

Hay is but dried grass, then, which the 
long winters of the North compel us to cut 
and cure to feed our stock, while our more 
fortunate fellow citizens of the South are 
spared the labor and expense incident 
thereto, and can let their stock gather 
fresh grass from their bountiful fields. No 
wonder a people so blessed by Heaven 
with such a propitious clime, should so far 
outstrip us of the North, in the amount of 
aimual exports, when they are spared the 
immense labor necessary for the Northern 
farmers, to cut, cure, cart, stack, shelter 
and serve Out Hay to stock for nearly half 
the year ! 

Why did not Helper appraise the millions 
of dollars worth of woodpiles in the North, 
in cutting, hauUng and pihng which, to 
keep them warm tlu'ough our long winters, 
our farmers and their boys have to spend 
several weeks of hard work each year? 
Probably the aggregate would be as great 
as that of the Hay or dried grass of the 
North, and it is just as proper an article 
for estimating as the Hay of Northern 
production. True, it is all burnt up to 
keep us warm, while Southerners are fan- 
ning themselves upon their verandas, or 
seeking the shade to screen them from a 
scorching sun; but at the same time our 
stock is eating up the Hay, while Southern 



19 



horses and cattle are feeding themselves in 
the green fields. 

Helper's next statistical essay is to show 
that the Southern States are retrograding 
in productiveness, to prove which he gives 
the statistics of the growth of Wheat and 
Rye in Kentucky; of Wheat and Tobacco 
in Tennessee; of Rye and Tobacco in Vir- 
ginia, and of Wheat and Rye in Alabama. 
Having thus selected certain articles from 
the products of these States in which the 
production of 1840 exceeded that of 1850 
— according to his figures — he claims to 
have established his position. Whence he 
derives his data for these figures he does 
not inform us. We find no such statistics 
in the Census returns, and therefore have 
to rely entirely upon his word for their ac- 
cury. Until he adduces further evidence, 
it is fair to consider them utterly false, as 
we presume they are. But, if they were 
true it would only show either that 1840 
was a more proUfic year than 1850, in the 
special articles selected from the produc- 
tions of the States cited; or that those 
States had found more profitable agricul- 
tural employment. For instance, in Or- 
ange County, New York, the principal arti- 
cle of export, in 1840 was Butter. Now, al- 
though the County has continued to greatly 
increase in population, wealth and agricul- 
tural thrift, this County do'es not produce 
as much Butter as it consumes! Many 
of our heaviest dairy farmers even buy 
their own Butter from the West, and send 
their Milk to New York. Last year this 
County sent to that city 5,349,839 gal- 
lons of Milk — yielding a nett return to the 
farmers of about half a million of dollars. 
Whereas, in 1840— before the Raih-oad 
was built — not a gallon of Milk was re- 
ceived in New York from this County. 
By comparing the Orange County Butter 
statistics of 1840 with those of 1859, ac- 
cording to Helper's philosoph, it would 
appearthat instead of Orange County hav- 
ing increased in wealth and thrift, it must 
have terribly retrograded. We might 
furnish thousands of other illustrations of 
the fallacy of this system of judging of 



the thrift of communities, but it is unnec- 
essary. No sensible person can be de- 
ceived by such nonsense, while the annual 
assessment rolls of the several States named 
continue to show a steady increase, year 
after year. If there is a diminution of one 
class of produce, there will be found to be 
a corresponding or greater increase of 
others. 

Having so poorly succeeded in his at- 
tempt to exhibit this alleged retrogression 
of Southern Agriculture, Helper again re- 
sorts to contrasting the North and South, 
with a view of proving the superiority of 
the former. He compiles tables from the 
Census of 1850, showing the amount of 
Real and Personal Property, Revenue and 
Expenditure of the Northern and Southern 
States respectively, with the following- 
result: 
'.' Entire wealth of the Free States ".$4,102,172 108 

" " "Slave States". 2,936,090 737 



Difference, $1,166,081 371 

Now, by reference to his own population 
table, (on page 144,) it will be seen that 
the Northern white population is nearly a 
miUion more than twice that of the South, 
while the aggregate wealth of the North 
is shown by his own figures to be but a 
fourth greater than that of the South. 
Taking the round numbers of population in 
milhons — thirteen for the North and six for 
the South — a short arithmetical process 
will show the immense proportionate defi- 
ciency of the North. For instance 6,184,- 
4tt of Southern white population is to 
13,233,670 of Northern white population, 
as $2,936,090,737, (value of Southern 
real and personal property,) is to the 
amount of real and personal property the 
North should possess to be proportionately 
as wealthy as the South. By the " simple 
rule of three," multiply the second and 
third terras of the proportion, and divide 
by the first to find the fourth. Any young 
aritluiietician who will take the trouble to 
■Avork out the proportion accurately, will 
find that the North, in order to be equally 
wealthy with the South, in proportion to 
population, should have of real and per- 



20 



sonal property $6,298,8t6,025 

But the ''entire wealth of 

the free States" is only. 4,102,1^2,108 



The North, therefore, lacks $2,196,103,91^ 
of possessing as much wealth, per capita, 
as the South! 

Deduct from this deficiency $2,196,703,917 

The value of the 3.200.364 Southern 

Slaves at $500 apiece for old and 

young, lair.e, halt and blind 1.600.182.000 



And the North still lacks $596,521,917 

of possessing as much wealth in proportion 
to population as the South has, exclusive 
of Slaves! 

In connection with his table comparing 
the Real and Personal property of the 
North and South, Helper has two other 
columns under the heads* "Revenue," and 
"Expenditure." As these items are so 
nearly similar, it is unnecessary to give 
them both — the "Revenue" being the 
proceeds of taxation, is, of course, raised to 
meet the Expenditures of government. 
Instead of the former colunm, therefore, the 
figures of which vary but little from the 
latter column, we shall give a column 
showing the "Debt" of each State in 
1850 (page 190 U. S. Census Compendi- 
um, ) and also substitute the word Taxa- 
tion for Expenditure as more expressive of 
the character of the first column: 

FBKE NEGKO STATES. 

Taxation. State debt. 

Maine 624,101 471,500 

New Hampshire. 149,890 74,399 

Vermont 183,058 48,436 

Massachusetts . . . 674,622 6,259,930 

Rhode Island.... 115,835 

Connecticut 137,326 8,000 

New York 2,520,932 22,623,838 

New Jersey 180,614 71,346 

Pennsylvania 6,876,480 41,524,875 

Michigan 431,918 2,307,850 

Wisconsin 136,096 12,892 

Iowa 131,631 81,795 

Illinois 192,940 17,500,000 

Indiana 1,061,605 6,712.880 

Ohio 2,736,060 15,520,768 



Virginia 1,272,382 

North Carolina.. 228,173 

South Carolina.. 463,021 

Georgia 597,882 

Florida 55,234 

Alabama 513,559 

Mississippi 223,637 

Louisiana 1,098,911 

Texas 156,622 

Arkansas 74,076 

Tennessee 623,625 

Kentucky 674,697 

Missouri 207,656 



13,573,355 

977,000 

3,144,931 

2,801,972 

2,800 

3,983,616 

7,271,707 

11,492,566 

5,725,671 

1,506,562 

3,776,856 

5,726,307 

857,000 



16,153,108 

SOUTHERK STATES. 

Delaware 

Maryland 1,360,458 



113,218,509 

30,000 
15,260.667 



7,549,933 76,131,010 

By comparing the totals of these columns 
it will thus be seen that the Taxation to 
meet the expenses of Northern State gov- 
ernments is more than double that at the 
South, while the non-slaveholding States 
had as early as 1850 been saddled with 
$37,087,499 more State debts than the 
Slaveholding States. During the last ten 
years, subsequent to the above data, the 
Northern State governments generally have 
been in still more profligate and extravagant 
hands — so that the State debts of the 
non-slaveholding States, are now probably 
$100,000,000 more than those of the 
South — while the annual taxation is now 
more than three times as great at the 
North, instead of only a little more than 
double, as in 1850. 

What wonderful results ! Well may the 
reader exclaim. What a fool was this Ab- 
olition philosopher for appeahng to statis- 
tics, when his own tables could be so easily 
turned upon him, and his own figures show 
such immense superiority for the South in 
every instance ! Five hundred and ninety- 
six millions, five hundred and twenty-one 
thousand, nine hundred and seventeen 
dollars deficiency of Northern wealth — not 
counting the value of a single negro of the 
South, in the comparison! 

We have now gone through all the 
statistics of Helper's first chapter, and the 
result is before our readers, who have seen 
that the pretended superiority of the North 
arose altogether from the inequahty of the 
populations compared. When we came to 
expose this trick and to make comparisons 



21 



in the ratio of population, the result was 
largely in favor of the South in every in- 
stance, even according to Helper's own 
figures. Now, before passing from this 
part of our Review, we propose to take 
the New England and Southern States, 
^and compare them in the mamier Helper 
jompared the North and the South, while 
knew the former possessed more than 
double the white population of the latter. 
In our contrast of the New England 
States with the South, we shall include the 
negroes in the population of the latter, and 
take three of the first agricultural staples 
he selected for comparmg the North and 
South: Pop. Wheat. Oata. Ind. Corn. 
Maine. 583,169 296,259 2,181,037 1,750,056 
N. H. .317,976 185,658 973,381 1,573,670 

Ver't. .314,120 535,955 2,307,734 2,032,396 
Masai.. 994 ,514 31,211 1,165,146 2,345,490 

R. I.... 147 ,545 49 215,232 639,201 

Conn... 370,792 41,762 1,258,738 1,935,043 

Total. 2,728,116 1,090,894 8,101,268 10,175,856 

Slave 

States 9,612,969 27,904,476 49,882,979 348,992,282 

The New England States then, have 
nearly half as much white population as the 
Southern States, and nearly one-third the 
entire population of the South, including 
Slaves, and yet the South produces more 
than twenty-five times as much Wheat, 
more than six times as much Oats, and 
more than thirty times as much Indian 
Corn! , 

So much for the first three items of agri- 
cultural produce introduced for contrast 
by our author. It is unnecessary for us 
to pursue the comparison further, between 
the New England States and the South. 
The disparity is too manifestly against the 
former — several times more so than when 
in the former analysis of statistics the pro- 
ducts of the Eastern States were mixed 
np with the products of the rich and pro- 
lific West. Even then we have seen that 
the heaven-favored South was far ahead in 
every contrast. 

Having thus thoroughly disposed of 
Helper's statistics, by carefiilly analyzing 
them, and showing that in every instance 
the South was far ahead, as proven by his 
own figures, it might not be considered 



magnanimous in us not to admit the supe- 
riority of the North, in some particulars, 
at least. We shall have to select some 
other sorts of productions, however, to 
show such superiority. Let us, then, try 
a new cl^ss of statistics: 

On pages 163 and 165 of the Compen- 
dium of the United States Census for 1850, 
the following statistics wUl be found: 

NON-SLAVEHOLDINa STATES. 

Paupers support- Criminals 

ed in whole or in convicted 

part. dnring 

Eastern States. the year. 

Maine 5,603 744 

New Hampshire. 3,600 90 

Vermont 3,654 79 

Massachusetts . . 15,777 7,250 

Rhode Island... 2,560 596 

Connecticut 2,337 850 

33,413 9,600 

Middle States. 



New York 59,856 

New Jersey 2,392 

Pennsylvania. . .11,561 



73,798 



10,279 
603 
S57 



-11739 



659 
267 
3 
316 
175 
843 



2,268 
23,611 



Western States. 

Michigan 1,190 

Wisconsin 666 

Iowa 135 

Illinois 797 

Indiana 1,182 

Ohio 2,613 

6,483 

Total of non-slave- 

holding States.. 113,712 

SIAVEHOLOIXa STATES, 

Delaware 697 

Maryland 4,494 

Virginia 5,118 

North Carolinia.. 1,931 
South Carolina... 1,642 

Georgia 1,036 

Florida 76 

Alabama 363 

Mississippi 26ft 

Louisiana 423 

Texas T 

Arkansas 106- 

Tennessee 1,005- 

Kentncl^ 1,126. 

Missouri 2,977 

Total of slave- 

holding States 21,26a 2,811 

Here is food for reflection ! Here 
are facts and figures for youl — astonish- 
ing — unaccountable — yet nevertheless ac- 
curate and reliable, — from the official ceu- 



22 

207 

107 

647 

46 

80 

89 

122 

61 

297 

19 

25 

81 

160 

908 



22 



tus returns made by sworn officers. Here 
the North exceeds the South, and the 
New England States are far ahead of all 
the rest of the Union in the statistics of 
crime. In pauperism they are only 
surpassed by New York. 

Helper first contrasted New York and 
Virginia. Let us follow his routine with 
our other sort of statistics. New York 
has 59,855 paupers, and Virginia has on- 
ly 5,118! New York is ten times ahead 
of Virginia in paupers I New York has 
10,219 criminals convicted during the 
year — Virginia has but 107! New York 
then has about a hundred times as many 
criminals as Virginia! 

Helper next selects for contrast Massa- 
chusetts and North Carolina — ^both States 
being nearly equal in population, as they 
have been for nearly a half a century. — 
Massachusetts has 15,711 paupers to 1,- 
931 in North CaroMna.— 8 to 1 ! Massa- 
chusetts has 1,250 criminals, and North 
Carolina but 641! — more than 11 to 1. 

Pennsylvania and South Carolina are 
next contrasted by Helper. Let us follow 
him in contrasting this class of products. 
Pennsylvania had 11,551 paupers on her 
hands in 1850, and South CaroUna but 
1,642, or less than a seventh the number 
of the former. Pennsylvania had 851 
criminals and South Carolina only 46! — 
less than one to eighteen ! 

Thus do the several States compare in 
their statistics of pauperism and crime. 
Why did not Helper thus contrast them, 
while comparing their increase of popula- 
tion, &c.? Ay — why? 

Now let us look at the grand aggregates, 
and we shall find that the New England 
:States, with less than a third of the pop- 
ulation of the Southern States, have 

33,431 paupers and 9,609 criminals, 
To 21,260 do do 2,811 do 
in all the slaveholding States! Pious, phi- 
lanthropic, Puritanic and pharisaic New 
England, with one-third the population of 
the South, has one-half more paupers, and 
more than three times as many criminals! 
That is, five times as many paupers and 



ten times as many criminals in pious New 
England, in proportion to population, as in 
the slaveholdmg South! 

The State of New York alone has near- 
ly three times as many paupers, and more 
than three times as many criminals as all 
the Southern or slaveholding States, taken 
together. 

The aggregate of paupers in the non- 
slaveholding States is more than five times 
as great as that of the Southern States, 
and the aggregate of criminals more than 
eight times as great! 

Study these statistics, ye snivelling sym- 
pal hizers with the imaginary sufferers by 
the horrors of Southern society. Ponder 
tliem well, ye Puritan fanatics! Behold 
your own beloved Massachusetts-;— with 
three-fourths the number of paupers, and 
more than double the criminals of all the 
Southern States, together! 

The population of the Slave States Is 
about ten times as great as that of Mas- 
sachusetts, and yet the number of its crim- 
inals is more than two and a half times as 
great — more than twenty-five criminals in 
Massachusetts, in proportion of popula- 
tion, to one in the Slaveholding States ! — 
Study these statistics, ye sanctimonious 
scoundrels, and if piously inclined, please 
to remember that charity should begin at 
home, and in the whole wide world there 
is no better field for your surplus philan- 
thropy than your own crime-cursed and 
pauper-producing Massachusetts, and your 
own negTO-worshipping New England. — 
Save your tears for your starving neigh- 
bors — confer your charity upon your freez- 
ing feUow-yankees — pour forth your pious 
prayers in behalf of your felon neighbors ; 
and when your criminal records and pau- 
per rolls shall be made as small as those of 
the " Slaveholding South," it will be time 
enough for you to extend your philanthro- 
pic yearnings towards the fat, lazy and 
happy darkeys down South — and remem- 
ber the text that says: 

" Thou hypocrite 1 first pluck the beam from 
thine own eye, that thou mayst see clearly to 
cast the mote from thy brother's eye." 



23 



Saving thus reviewed and refuted all 
the statistics of Helper's first chapter, it is 
unnecessary to follow up his bombast 
against the South, based upon the assumed 
superiority of the North. Having so com- 
pletely disarmed the raving fool, we shall 
not care to wipe up the fi'oth and slime 
with which he soils the paper polluted by 
his printed slang. 

CHAPTER II. 

" HOW SLA^TERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. 

" Value of Lands in the Free and in the Slave 
States — A few Plain Words atidressed to Slave- 
holders—The Old Homestead— Area amd Popu 
lation of the several States, of the Territories, 
and of the District of Columbia— Number of 
Slaveholders in the United States — Abstract of 
the Author's Plan for the Abolition of Slavery — 
Official Power and Despotism of the Oligarchy — 
Mal-treatment of the Non-slaveholding Whites — 
Liberal Slaveholders, and what may be expected 
of them — Slave-di-iving Democrats — Classifica- 
tion of Votes Polled at the Five Points Precinct 
in 1856 — Parts played by the Republicans, Whigs, 
Democrats and Know-Nothings during the last 
Presidential Campaign— How and Why Slavery 
should be Abolished without direct Compensa- 
tion to the Masters — The American Colonization 
Society— Emigration to Liberia — Ultimatum of 
the Non-slaveholding Whites." 

Helper's first proposition in this chapter 
is that he does not " recognize property in 
man!" {i. e. negroes.) Well, what if he 
does not? Must the Constitutiou and 
laws of the country, and the teachings of 
the sacred scriptures — ivhich do — be tram- 
pled under foot and abrogated, for the sake 
of following this fox-fire philosopher, lumi- 
nous only from his putrescence, upon the 
principle that a rotten mackerel .shines by 
moonhght?— or that the corrupt exhala- 
tions of slimy, stagnant swamps sometimes 
send up 

" An ignis faluus that bewitches, 

And leads men into pools and ditches ''? 

Before abandoning the Bible and the 

Constitution and laws of the country, it 

will be well to consider where the maxims 

of this new-fangled philosopher will lead 

us. Then, who is he? and what are his 

claims upon our credulity? It seems from 

his past history that but eight or ten years 

ago, in reducing his theory to practice, he 

did not "recognize" his employer's right 

to the money in his till. It is not aston- 



ishing that a person of such obtuse ideas, 
and afflicted in youth with the sort of 
"moral insanity" which was vainly plead- 
ed in defence of the Penitentiary prince, 
Hutchison, who "resides at Sing Sing," 
should in mature years become so hardened 
and depraved as to openly advocate negro- 
stealing. But it is astonishing that such 
a character should set himself up as a 
model of morality and an oracle of justice, 
and assume superiority to the inspired 
writers and the founders of our govern- 
ment. Could unblushing impudence and 
brazen ignorance go farther? 

His corroUary from his proposition just 
referred to, is: 

" We — the non-slaveholders of the South — would' 
be tully warranted in emancipating aR the slaves 
at once, and that, too, without any compensa- 
tion," &c. 

But it happens that this " wee non-slave- 
holder of the South," is a fugitive fi'om 
his native South, in consequence of his ob- 
tuse ideas of the rights of property. Like 
the fox that was maimed in the trap, he 
tries to get others to follow Ms example 
and share his fate. "Misery loves com- 
pany." Why did he not join John Brown 
and his gang, in their recent attempt to 
reduce lus theory to practice, or rally to 
rescue those fools his counsels led to felons' 
fates from the ignominious death of the 
murderers' halter? ^ Or does he hold that, 

" He who from tlie battle stays away. 
May live to fight another day " ? 

Surely, he must be a dangerous teacher 

and dastardly braggart, whose disciples, m 

practising his first lesson, are shot dowa 

like dogs, or hung as pupates, while he 

dares do nothing but bark, like a whiffet, 

two hundred mUes away. 

Now again for statistics. He says that 

in 1850 the average value of land per acre" 

In the Northen States was $28. Ot 

"Northwestern" " 11.39 

" Southern " " 5.34 

" Southwestern " " 6.26 

Before follbwing the fellow in his highfa- 

lutin inferences from these figures, we must 

expose his barefaced fraud. He pretends 

to classify the whole country in four di- 



24 
visions, designing to convey the idea that 
under the head of " Northern Slates" are 
included the x^ew England as well as the 
other Northern States that are not em- 
braced under the head of Northwestern. 
This, however, is false, as any one may 
see who has a copy of the 'Compendium of 
the United States Census of 1850, by 
turning to the 11 5th page of that docu- 
ment. He has taken the figures given on 
that page for the " Middle States" (N. Y., 
N. J., Pa., Delaware, Maryland and the 
District o Columbia,) and falsely paraded 
them as those of the "Northern 
States," which would include " New Ens;- 



nication — for $10 per acre, while in the 
thickly settled New England or Middle 
States land of far inferior quality would 
readily sell for five or ten times these prices. 
What has negro slavery to do with this 
disparity? 

Again, it is well known, that in the val- 
uation of farms, the buildings and outbuild- 
ings are included. A farm of a hundred 
acres that, with a house and other build- 
ings worth $2,000, would sell for $30 per 
acre, would be worth but $10 per acre 
without those buildings. It is equally well 
known that 100 acres is a large estimate 

, c^ fci- the average size of farms in the New 

land," but exclude Delaware, Maryland | E^giaud and Middle States, while 1,000 
and the District of Columbia. Why was acres is a moderate estimate of the aver- 
this? Because that table shows the "aver- -oe size of nlantations. That 
a^-e value of occupied land per acre" in 



New England to be"but $20 2?, mstead 
of $28 07, which latter are the figures for 
the "Middle States" in that table. This 
could have been no mistake ; for the two 
lines are side by side, the first noted as 
" New England" and the second as " Mid- 
dle States," and there is no line ■ marked 
" Northern States" in the table. He is 
therefore guilty of wilful fraud and falsity 
in falsely stating the average value of 
lands in the " Northern States" at $28 07. 
Whereas the average value of unoccupied 
lands in the New England States is but 
$20 27. He has therefore rated New 
England at $7 80 per acre above the av- 
erage value of her land exhibited by the 
census of 1850. Of what value are the 
pretended statistics of such a knave? Of 
whafc value are his pretensions of moral 
reform? And of what consequence are 
his maledictions and miserable rhodomon- 
tade? 

Now, everybody knows that the value 
fdf tillable land per acre depends almost 
•entirely upon location and density of pop- 
xilation. For instance, farms oi the most 
inexhaustible soil, and under the best cul- 
tivation, may be bought, in portions of 
Iowa or Wisconsin, for $5 per acre, or in 
some parts of lUinois or IncUana— farthest 



s.-e size of plantations. That is, one 
Southern plantation, on the average, is as 
large as ten New England farms. Then, 
estimating the average value of buildings 
on each farm and plantation at the moderate 
fig-ure of $2,000 for each farm and planta- 
tion, we shall see $18,000 excess of build- 
ings are to come off the value of each 
thousand acres in New England, to make 
a fair comparison of the relative value of 
land in the two sections. A brief calcu- 
lation would show, that, even taking the 
average valuation of the nine extra dwell- 
ings and outbuildings to every thousand 
acres of New England over those of the 
South, at $1,700 each, the average value 
of the lands of the latter would exceed 
that of the lands of New England. That 
there is a greater number, and consequent- 
ly gi-eater value of houses, barns, &c., in 
New England than in the Southern States, 
is of course attributable only to the fact 
of a denser population in the former. 

The fairest way, therefore, to get at the 
comparative merits of Northern and South- 
ern systems of agriculture, is to ascertain 
the aggregate value of all Southern farm- 
ing lands, and also that of Northern farms, 
and see which bears the greater propor- 
tionate value to population. By reference 
to page 36 of the Compendium of the U. 
S. Census, it will be seen that the non- 



fi-om market, or raih'oad, or river commu- slaveholdmg States, in 1850, contained 



25 



612,597 square miles, andtlie slaveholding 
States contaiued 851,508 square miles. 
By reference to page 115 of the same doc- 
ument, it will be seen that of the area of 
the Northern States, the proportion of oc- 
cupied land is 28.56, or a little over 281 
hundredths, while the proportion of occu- 
pied Southern land is 33.17, or nearly one- 
third. By aritlunetical operation, it will 
be found that the amount of occupied land 
was, therefore, in 1850: 

Square miles. I Or acres. 
In the non-slaveliolding States. 174,957 111,972,930 
In the slaveholding States 282,445|l80,764,930 

By multiplying the aggregate number of 
acres of occupied land, both North and 
South, by the average price per acre, ac- 
cording to the census statistics, (page 175 
Comp.,) it will be ^und that the total 
value of Northern farming lands occupied 
is as follows: 

Non-slaveholding States $2,127,485,670 

Slaveholding States 1,100,858,423 

Now divide the value of lands iu the 
non-slaveholding States by the number of 
white inhabitants, and the value of lands 
in the slaveholding States by the number 
of white inhabitants therein, thus: 

$2,127,485,670 by 13,330,650* 
and 1,100,858,423 by 6,222,418* 

and it will be found that the value of farm- 
ing lands in the non-slaveholding States is 
but $159.59 to each white inhabitant, 
while in the slaveholding States it is 
$176.92 to each white inhabitant — that is, 
the average value of Southern farming 
lands is $17.33 more to each white man, 
woman and child than the average to each 
white man, woman and child in the non- 
slaveholding States 1 

Arguing from absurd assumptions, based 
upon his false statistics and erroneous es- 
timates of the relative value of Northern 



*It will be remembered that in a former chapter 
we took Helper's statistics as he had them, for the 
purpose of condemning him with his own figures ; 
but we shall henceforth take the Census returns, 
instead of his own fabe quotations. Helper gives 
13,233,670 as the white population North, and 
6,184,477 as the white population of the Southern 
Slave-holding States. But by reference to page 45 
of the Census Compendium, our figures will be 
found correct and his false. 



and Southern farming lands. Helper say* 
the Slaveholders of the South are indebted 
to him, and some others whom he professes 
to represent, (but who have never yet ac- 
knowledged him as their representative, ) 
to the enormous amount of $22.73, for ev- 
ery acre of land in the slaveholding States, 
(which he falsely and foohshly asserts to be 
the difference in value per acre iu favor of 
Northern over Southern lands. ) Since we 
have proved his figures wilfully fraudulent 
and false, and, by reference to the pages 
and figures of the U. S. Census Compen- 
dium, shown that Southern farming lands 
are worth $17.33 more for each white man, 
woman and child in the slaveholding States, 
according to his philosophy he must admit 
that he and his fellow Abolitionists owe 
each man, woman and child of the North the 
sum of $17.33, which they must receive in 
order to indemnify them for the deficiency 
of their average ownership of farming 
lands. 

But suppose it were otherwise, and itt- 
stead of Southern farms being worth 
$17.33 more for every white man, woman 
and child than those of the non-slaveholding 
States, why would anybody owe Mrj 
Helper anything until he had gone to 
work and earned it? He does not own a 
foot of land at the South — how then is he 
affected by its price — whether high or 
low? His argTiment is but a paraphase 
of the maxim of thieves and robbers — that 
" the world owes us a living." Poor fools I 
the world owes them nothing until they 
have earned it; and, while a resident of the 
South, it appears Helper was paid every 
cent he earned, and that he levied on some 
$300 over, probably as a portion of the 
immense debt he held to be due him from 
the property-owners of the South. How 
silly does his twattle appear when brought 
in contact with the touch-stone of common 
sense! — especially after we have exposed 
the falsity of his statistics, and proven by 
the indisputable figures of the Census 
tables that the value of Southern lands Is 
so much greater, per capita, than those of 
the North! 



26 



Having thus shown the falsity of Help- 
er's figures and alleged facts, as well as 
the miserable absurdity of the premises 
upon which he bases his towering column 
of calculations as to the mythical and im- 
aginary indebtedness of the owners of 
slaves to him and all other non-slaveholders, 
it is unnecessary to follow the shallow non- 
sense of his stupid and stupendously silly 
deductions therefrom. But there is one 
thing therein, so laughably ludicrous, that 
we mHst be excused for briefly adverting 
to it. In order to ascertain the propor- 
-tionate amount of land owned by slave- 
holders at the South, he first guesses at 
the average amount owned by each slave- 
holder, and then multiplies the number of 
slaveholders by the guessed-at average 
number of acres possessed by each, adn 
then parades the product as the probable 
amount of land held altogether by slave- 
holders in the South! He then subtracts 
this product from the entire area of the 
slaveholding States — (including Texas, 
which alone comprises nearly one-third the 
area of those States — three-fourths of 
which every school-boy knows is not occu- 
pied,) — deducting only forty milhous of 
acres, or 62,500 square miles, belonging to 
the general government, and then holds 
that he and non-slaveholders generally are 
— by some principle that he does not ex- 
plain — entitled to as much money as the 
remainder of acres of area of the South — 
including the swamps of Florida, the un- 
settled wilderijess of Texas and the waste 
lands of the slaveholding States generally, 
would amount to, if worth $28.01 per 
acre, (the average value of occupied lands 
in the Middle States,) or $7.80 per acre 
more than the average value of occupied 
lands in New England! 

Now why did not the fool guess at the 
aggregate, at once, instead of guessing at 
his premises and figuring for a conclusion ? 
His modus operandi is like that reported 
of some frontier settler, who, in weighing 
his pork, balanced a slab acrosss a log, 
and, after placing his pork on one end, piled 
stones on the other until they balanced ; 



and then guessed at the weiglit of the 
stones ! 

We have previously shown that the 
occupied land of the Slaveholding States 
is proved by the census returns to be worth 
$11,33 more for every white man, wo- ' 
man and child of their population than the | 
occupied lands of the Northern States, I 
notwithstanding the denser population and { 
proximity of the latter to the great com- [ 
mercial cities ; and also that they are far 
more productive in proportion to popula- i 
tion (including the slaves) than the land 
of the New England and Northern States. 
It is only necessary to add that nearly all 
land owners at the South own slaves, and 
those who do not own, hire them of those 
who do. 

But let us look atJHelper's next dash at 
statistics. He says ^e entire area of the 

Slaveholding States is 544,926,720 acres, 

and guesses that slave- 
holders own 173,024,000 

U.S.government holds 40,000,000 

213,024,000 



Leaving in possession of non- 
slaveholders 331,902,720 

That is, he holds that non-slaveholders in 
the Slave States own about twice as much 
land as slaveholders! No one who knows 
anything of the facts will place much val- 
ue upon the figures or opinions of a fool 
that can utter such nonsense. Scarcely 
any intelligent person, either North or 
South, need be told that nearly all land- 
owners in the Slave States own a greater or 
less number of slaves. The entu-e area of 
the Southern States is 544,926,120 acres, 
of which, by reference to page 115 of the 
Census Compendium, it will be seen that 
but 33.11 hundreths are occupied at all — 

That is 180,741,193 acres. 

Helper estimates that slavehol- 
ders own 173,024,000 do 

Leaving to non-slaveholders only 7,717,193 do 

instead of 331,902,120 acres as he claims. 
Quite a difference,truly ! but the census thus 
clearly shows beyond the possibility of dis- 
pute or doubt, that there are in all the slave- 
holding States only 1,111,193 acres more of 
occupied land than Helper himself estimates 
are held by slaveholders. A fool capable 



21 



of making a blunder so wide oflF the mark 
as 331,902,120 acres instead of 1,111,193, 
with the census tables before him, from 
which we have thus shown this discrepan- 
cy in his calculations, would indeed be a 
poor guide in poUtical economy, or in any 
thing else to which honesty and brains are 
essential. 

In addition to the imaginary pecuniary 
loss that Helper claims to have sustained 
in consequence of negro slavery, he also 
claims a hundred per cent additional dam- 
ages for religious and literary injury. — 
Poor fellow! We shall not attempt to 
argue that he has not greatly suffered from 
religious and literary deficiency. But, in 
the name of the seven wonders of the world, 
what has slavery to, do with his reli- 
gious or moral obUquity, or his illitera- 
cy, that involves him in such stupid 
blunders when he attempts to handle 
statistics? Would he have been any more 
pious or honest or intellectual had all the 
negro slaves of the South been turned 
loose on his ill-starred natal night? Would 
any class — white or black — North or 
South — be benefitted by the sudden eman- 
cipation of the three million negroes of the 
South? If so, how and why? The ne- 
groes are there, and must be either free, 
idle and worthless, with no one to care for 
them, or they must remain in their present 
happy and useful condition. In Hayti, 
the experiment of emancipation has been 
tried, as well as in the Northern States 
Has anybody been benefited thereby? 
Hayti was formerly one of the most weal- 
thy and productive islands in the world; 
but as soon as the blacks were emancipated 
it began to rapidly decline, and now there 
are no more miserable creatures to be 
found on the face of the earth than the 
poor, filthy, idle and suffering negroes there 
— not even in their native Africa — from 
the cannibalism of which the institution of 
negro slavery has relieved over 3,000,000 
of the race in our Southern States. No 
where in the world, except in our South- 
ern States, in South America^ and Cuba, 
(where the institution of negro slavery ex- 



ists,) is negro labor profitable or are the ne- 
groes happy or half civilized. What, then, 
would become of the whites or blacks in our 
Southern States were the slaves turned 
loose? Would they come North? Have 
we not more of them than can find subsis- 
tence, or than our negrophilists are willing 
to feed and find clothing and habitations 
for? Let the reader remember, while lis- 
tening to Helper's inveighings iagaint ne- 
gro slavery, that the negroes are and must 
remain at the South; and let all who know 
the nature and habits of the race generally 
at the North, consider what would be the 
result of turning them loose, as Helper ad- 
vocates. How would the pecuniary pros- 
perity, the religion or literature of the 
South be promoted thereby? 

After a few pages of senseless ravings, 
in which this Bedlamite claims the modest 
sum of $1,544,148,825 of the slaveholders, 
and demands payment " in specie" — (poor 
fool! there is not that amount in the world 
— 'wonder if he would not take less?) — the 
wretch, addi'essing the owners of slaves, 
says : 

" It is for you to decide whether we are to have 
justice peacably or by violence, for, whatever 
consequences may follow, we are determined to 
have it one way or the other. Do you aspire to 
become the victims of white non-slaveholding ven- 
geance by day, and of barbarous massacre by the 
negroes at night? Would you be instrumentalin 
bringing upon yourselves, your wives and your 
children, a fate too horrible to contemplate ? Shall 
history cease to cite as an instance ol unexampled 
cruelty, the massacre of St. Bartholomew, because 
the world— the South— shall have furnished a more 
direful scene of atrocity and carnage V^—Fage 128. 

" Your money or your life!" — $1,544,- 
148,825" "in specie," or a "barbarous 
massacre" of "yourselves, your wives, 
and your children!" 

Such raving threats might be deemed 
an evidence of a kindred insanity to that 
which led John Brown and his gaug to the 
gallows, although happily unaccompanied 
with their brute courage, to render them 
dangerous. 'But, alas! the book contain- 
ing these fiendish threats has been endorsed 
by the leaders of a great pohtical party 1 — 
the sectional RepubUcan party of the 
North! — as was shown in our Preface, by 



28 



the signatures of sixty-eight Representa- 
tives of the RepubUcau party in Congress, 
and also of Wm. H. Seward. Let us look 
again at their emphatic endorsement: 

"No other volume now before the public, as 
we conceive, is, in all respects, so well calcu- 
lated to induce in the minds of its readers a de- 
cided and persistent repugnance to slavery, and 
a willingness to co-operate in the effort to restrain 
the shameless advances and hurtful influences of 
that pernicious institution. 

" The extensive circulation of a copious com- 
pend of the work in question among the intelli- 
gent, liberty-loving voters of the country, irre- 
spective of party or locality, would, we believe, 
be productive of most beneficial results ; and to 
this end we trust you will assist in carrying out 
a plan we have devised for the gratuitous dis- 
tribution of one hundred thousand copies of such 
a Compend, which, if contracted for and pub- 
lished, will contain about 200 pages, and be 
bound in pamphlet form." — Extract from Circular. 

We, the undersigned, members of the House 
of Representatives of the National Congress, do 
cordially endorse the opinion and approve the 
enterprise set forth in the foregoing circular : 

[Here follow the signatures of sixty- 
eight Republican Members of Congress.] 

" I have read the ' Impending Crisis of the 
South ' with deep attention. It seems to be a 
work of great merit, rich, yet accurate, in statis- 
tical information, and logical in analysis." — 
Wm. H. Sewabd. 

Can intelhgeut patriots, possessed o 
those humane impulses that elevate our 
race above the savages that gloat with de- 
light in human gore, consent longer to act 
or be identified with a party whose leaders 
have thus committed them to such atro- 
cious and fiendish sentiments? Can any 
intelligent man for a moment wonder that 
Southern Members of Congress refuse to 
Bubmit to have John Sherman, one of the 
endorsers of this infernal book, elevated to 
preside over them? Can any good and 
intelUgent patriot continue to belong to a 
party whose leaders have for nearly two 
months persisted in their efforts to place 
such a man in the Chair once occupied by 
Henry Clay or James K. Polk? Would 
it be a matter of surprise, in the event 
of Sherman's election, if a sufficient num- 
ber of Southern members should refuse to 
sit under his presidency to leave the House 
without a quorum? Who can blame 



Southern Members for persisting in urg- 
ing forward a resolution that a man who 
has endorsed such satanic sentiments and 
assassin threats is unfit to be Speaker of 
the House, or hold any party responsible 
for the failure to organize the House but 
those who persist in pressing Sherman for- 
ward as their candidate? 

It is scarcely to be expected that the 
South will be either fi'ightened into uncon- 
ditional submission by the threats of the 
Helper book — although endorsed by the 
leaders of the Repubhcan party — or per- 
suaded by the philosophy of his false sta- 
tistics, which we have so fully exposed, 
or by his irrational arguments or siUy 
sophisms. What then? More John Brown 
raids? Undoubtedly, if the masses of the 
Republican party continue to remain in 
the ranks of an organization, the leaders 
of which have thus committed their party, 
the effect will be to encourage and induce 
futm'e acts of aggression, that camiot fail 
to finally bring the North and South into 
a bloody war, that shall stain our soil with 
fraternal blood, and overwhelm our coun- 
try with anarchy and ruin. Shall this be 
so? or will all true and good men in the 
j^ranks of the Republican party, who do not 
approve the dogmas of the Helper book — 
that justifies, if it did not incite Brown's 
bloody foray into Virginia — to which its 
leaders have pubUcly committed that 
party, at once abandon it, and 
henceforth act with those who seek to al- 
lay sectional strife, and stay the waves of 
fanaticism that threaten to engulph our 
country? 

Only for the endorsement of this infa- 
mous book by the leaders of the Republi- 
can party, we should not deem such silly 
ravings and serpent venom as its pages 
exhibit, worthy any considerable comment. 
In view of such endorsement, however, we 
have undertaken this Review, and shall 
continue to patiently peruse its i^lutonic 
pages, and expose their pernicious errors 
and infamous teachings. . 

" Out of our effects, you have long since over- 
paid yourselves for your negroes ; and now, sirs, 



yoa must emancipate them— speedily emancipate 
them — or we will emancipate them for you !"— 
Impending Cfrisis, page 129* 

" Out of our effects!" says he. Why 
the fellow does not own a foot of land, we 
presume, or a dollar's worth of other proi> 
erty m the South, and he does not even 
reside there; so it is all the same to him 
whether land there is high or low, and 
affects him no more than it does the native 
Hottentots.of Africa, that have never been 
rescued from their terrible condition by the 
benign system of Southern negro servitude 
'and civihzation! Poor Brown and his 
gang are dead witnesses of the falsity of 
his threat, and it will probably be many 
years before another gang of fools will be 
found ready to confirm their fatal testimony. 

Helper's next essay is to show that by 
turning the three or four millions of slaves 
loose to run wild at the South, the value 
of the land will be increased to $28.0*1 per 
acre. Why this precise number of dollars 
and cents? Because, on page 124 he 
says that " In 1850 the average value 
per acre of land in the Northern States, 
was $28.01."* Notwithstanding Mr. 
Seward's emphatic endorsement of the 
accuracy of these false statistics, we 
have ah'eady shown, by reference to page 
115 of the IJ. S. Census Compendium, that 
this statement is nothing more or less than 
a wilful lie. There is no such classifica- 
tion as " Northern States" in the census 
tables. In the table from which Helper 
pretends to get his statistics, the classifica- 
tion is: 1st, New England; 2d, Middle 
States; 3d, Southern States; 4th, South- 
western States; and 5tb, North-western 
States. On page 31 of the Census Com- 
pendium, these grand divisions are thus 
defined by the compihng officer, J. D. B. 
DeBow, Superintendent of the United 
States Census: 



_*" I have read the " Impending Ch'isis of the 
South " with deep attention. It seems to be a work 
of great m^rit, rich, yet accurate, in statistical in- 
formation and logical in analysis,'^ says Wm. H. 
Seward . 

Amen ! say the siity-eight Republican mem- 
bers of Oongress. So aay you all, gentlemen? 



1. New England States. Maine, New Hamp- 
shire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and 
Connecticut. 

2. Middle States. New York, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. 

3. Southern States. Virginia, North Oaro^- 
na, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. 

4. SoDTH-wESTERN STATES. Alabama, Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana, Texas,Arkansas and Tennessee. 

6. North-western States. Kentucky, Mis- 
souri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wiscon- 
sin, Iowa, California and the Territories, (in 
questions of area the two last are excluded.) 

6. The Slaveholdino States include Dela- 
ware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississip- 
pi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee : in all fifteen States, be- 
sides the District of Columbia. 

7. The Non-Slaveholdino States include 
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, 
Illinois, Wisconsin,. Iowa and California ; in all 
sixteen. 

Instead of the average value of all land 
in the Northern States being $28,01 jjer 
acre, (as Helper says, and Seward certi- 
fies,) the average value of occupied land 
in New England was only $20,21, while 
the proportion of occupied land to the 
whole is but 44,13 hundredths, or less than 
half, — so that " in 1850 the average value 
per acre of [the ivholel land" in the New 
England States was but $8,94.* In the 
Middle States (including the Slave States 
of Delaware and Maryland, and the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, with New York, New 
Jersey and Pennsylvania,) the average 
value of OCCUPIED land per acre was only 
$28,01, while but 51,82 hundredths of the 
entire area is occupied, — so that "in 1850, 
the average value per acre of land" in the 
Middle States, was but $11,23.* In the 
Northwestern States the census gives the 
average value of occupied land per acre 
as $11,39, and the proportion of land oc- 
cupied 31,41 hundi'edths, or less than one- 



*" I have read the " Impending Cfrisis of the 
South " with deep attention . It seems to be a work 
of great merit, rich, yet accurate, in statistical in- 
formation, avd logicalin analysis," says Wit. H. 
Seward. 

Amen ! say the sixty-eight Republican mem ■ 
bera of Congress. So say you all, gentlemen ? 



30 



third. Hence "7n 1850, the average 
value per acre of land" in the North 
Western States was but $3,58.* It will 
be seen the average value of land in New 
England is $8,29 less than in the Middle 
States, and 73ut $5,36 more than in the 
North Western States. From these fig- 
ures it will be seen that the average value 
of "lands m the Northern States," taking 
the New England, Middle and North 
Western States together, and including 
Maryland, Delaware and the District of 
Columbia, as they are included in the ta- 
ble, cannot much exceed $8 per acre. So 
that Helper lies about and over-estimates 
every acre of the whole area of the North- 
ern States to the extent of abput $20 per 
acre, as shown hy the U. S. Census re- 
turns, from which he pretends to obtain 
his lying figures.* 

We have been thus particular in show- 
ing up the falsity of the statistics upon 
which Helper bases several pages of his 
slang against the South, in that portion of 
his book now under review, — for the pur- 
pose of showing that his pretended statis- 
tics are as unreUable as his false state- 
ments, although endorsed by Seward, — 
not because it was necessary for the pur- 
pose of refuting his sophisms — for we had 
already shown that the aggregate agricul- 
tural products of the South greatly exceed- 
ed those of the North, while the aggre- 
gate value of the Northern and Southern 
lands respectively, (as given in the Census 
Compendium and acknowledged by him- 
self,) exhibited an excess of value, in fa- 
vor of the South individually of $17,33 
for each white person of the entire popu- 
lation! Having done this it is hardly ne- 
cessary to pay further attention to the de- 
tails of his foolish calculations, based up- 
on data that we have shown to be false, by 
which he concludes that turning the three 

■*" Ihave read the 'Impending Crisis of the 
SouW with deep attention. It seems to be a loork 
of great merit, rich, yet accurate, in statistical in 
formation, and logical in analysis,''^ says Wm. H- 
Seward. 

Amen ! say the sixty-eight Eepablican members 
of Congress. So say you all, gentlemen ? 



or four milUons of negro slaves loose in the 
South would increase the aggregate value j 
of the land to more than five times its I 
present amount, instead of having the ef- | 
feet of driving off the white population 
and rendering the land less valuable, as has 
been the case in Canada and everywhere 
else in the neighborhood of large free-negro 
settlements. Instead of the value of 
Southern lands being increased five-fold by 
turning the four millions of slaves loose, to 
loaf and idle away their time in summer 
and youth, to have to suffer, starve and 
steal in winter, any sensible person must 
perceive, with a moment's reflection, that 
it would more probably be diminished to 
one-fifth its present value. So much for 
Helper's twenty pages of twattle under 
this head. 

" We, the non-slaveholders of the 
South," says this scribbler, while writing, 
or having this thing written for him prob- 
ably within the walls of the Tribune build- 
ings, in New York city, whereit was print- 
ed. This everlasting we-mg himself with 
Southerners, is only approached in ludicri- 
ty by the story of the horse-dung floating 
near some apples in the river, which is re- 
ported, after the manner of J^sop's inani- 
mate orators, to have exclaimed, " How 
we apples swim !" 

In the exuberance of his vanity. Helper 
helps himself to a portion of Cobbett's his- 
tory, and professes to have acquired his 
immense education by the light of North 
Carolina pine-knots, for the want of better 
luminaries, and thereby refittes all his 
spooky slang about the "ohgarchy" keep- 
ing poor whites in ignorance. If such a 
poor devil as he represents himself to have 
been in North Carolina, with so Uttle 
stability of character as Ms history exhib- 
its, could at his age (which we beheve he 
makes out about 27) attain to such a high 
grade of learning as he lays claim to, there 
can certainly be no great difficulty in the 
way of any poor man in that State obtain- 
ing as good an education as the majority 
of men are able to obtam. It is scarce- 
ly necessary to remind the reader that 



31 



in any State of a country in which books 
and newspapers are as plentiful and cheap 
as in our own, no healthy young man 
of intellectual or literary proclivities can 
be prevented from attaining whatever de- 
gree of learning he may aspire to or have 
energy enough to achieve.f Although edu- 
cational advantages are, of course, greater 
in towns, villages and thickly settled sec- 
tions than in agricultural regions, there is 
nowhere any " royal road to learning." 
With all the advantages of the best schools, 
application and plodding perseverance are 
necessary to climb the hill of science, and 
these qualities will enable any one to at- 
tain its summit, even without the aid of 
teachers to clear away the weeds and 
brush before them. Books are within the 
reach of every American who will work to 
earn the money to buy them, and with 
such weapons for bush-hooks, no intellectu- 
al young man can have much difficulty iu 
cutting away the tangled fern and under- 
growth that impede his advancement to 
the tenaple of Minerva. And it is a con- 
ceded fact that self-taught men are gener- 
ally the best scholars, — as those who earn 
money and wealth with their own hands 
can generally take best care of it. 

Helper says he sold out his share of his 
patrimony to his brother for $5.60 per 
acre; and complains that about that time 
he read of a sale of a farm in Pennsylva- 
nia, (near Philadelphia,) for $105.50. 
Wonderful, indeed 1 Why, in Virgmia, 
right around Charlestown, where Brown 
and his gang were hung, scarcely an acre 
of bottom land can be bought for miles 
around for less than the price of this Penn- 
sylvania farm. In many portions of Ken- 
tucky and other Southern States, lauds sell 
even higher, and there are thousands of 
farms that sell readily for over $100 per 
acre. On the other hand, there are mil- 



t Among the thousands of illustrations of the 
truth of this remark, we will refer to Andrew 
Johnson, a native of North Carolina, but now of 
Tennessee, who learned to read after he was mar- 
ried, and is now, at the age of about fifty years, a 
leading member of the United States Senate, after 
having been twice Governor of his adopted State. 



lions of acres in New England, New York 
and the non-slave holding States generally, 
that do not sell for a tenth of the price 
per acre for which Helper sold his share 
in the homestead. 

We regret that while teUiug about sel- 
ling the land left him by his father, he did 
not also tell us what he did with his share 
of the "niggers." On page 24 he tells us 
that his father was a slave-holder as long 
as he lived — so that he must have left 
slaves. What became of them? Had 
they been emancipated, half of Helper's 
book would have l^een filled with boast 
ings of the deed. Inasmuch therefore aa 
there is no reference to such a thing in his 
whole book, the inference is inevitable and 
it may be set down as an undoubted fact, 
that this great Abolition Helper sold his 
share of his father's slaves, and now, after 
having taken the money of the purchasers 
in good faith, he turns round and tells 
them that he had no right or just owner- 
ship in the slaves, and that they have no 
right to hold them. Will he then give back 
the money paid him? If not, why not? 
Would it not have been more honorable to 
make such a tender to the purchasers of his 
father's slaves, before threatening to eman- 
cipate them even by a "barbarous massa- 
cre by the negroes at night?" and to the 
purchasers who paid him their money in 
good faith, and their " wives and daugh- 
ters, a fate too horrible to contemplate!" 
What a pious philanthropist! What an 
honest and heart-swelling humanitarian! — 
to first sell slaves, and then, after having 
pocketed the money, try to incite them to 
cut their master's throat, debauch his wife 
and daughters, and leave them weltering 
in their gore!* 

Helper next takes up the old argument^ 
of Abolitionists, based upon a ride down 
the Oliio river. While upon the Ohio 



*" I have read the " Impending Crisis of the 
South ' ' with deep attention. It seems to be a work 
of great merit, rich, yet accurate, in statistical in- 
formation, and logical in analysis," saysWyi. H. 
Skwaed. 

Amen ! say the sixty-eight Republican meiU' 
bers of Congress. So say you all, gentlemen ? 



and Indiana side the soil was teeming with 
vegetation, the Virginia and Kentucky 
shore seemed like a barren wilderness- 
lands upon the one side were worth several 
tunes as much as upon the other. Well, 
here is a mare's nest, surely; but upon a 
careful examination it. will be perceived 
there are no eggs in it. Who does not 
know that the South side of river banks 
and mountain ranges are everywhere in the 
North Temperate Zone, having a Southern 
exposure to the sun, more valuable for 
agricultural purposes than the North side 
of mountains, which are universally cold 
and barren? Here then is a solution ot 
the Ohio river mystery that has caused 
such rivers of crockodile tears to flow from 
the evil eyes of the blood-thirsty Abohtion- 
ist samts of New England. Let us hear 
no more of it. 



32 



But it happens that the Census returns 
show the exact value of the farming 
lands of each State. Let us look at them 
On page 169, U. S. Census Compendium, 
it will be found that the " average value 
of farms," in " old worn-out Yirginia,"(as 
Abohtionists have harped for years,' and 
cited the sandy slopes of Eastern Virginia 
m proof,) is $2,810, while in young Ohio 
blessed with the best aUuvial soil in the 
world, the "average value of farms" is 
but $2,495. Verdict for Virginia by $315 
for each farm. WeU done, old Dominion! 
Now for Indiana and Kentucky. The 
" average value of farms" in Kentucky is 
$2,073, and m Indiana $1,453. The av- 
erage value of Kentucky farms, then is 
$620 greater than that of the farms of 
Indiana! Cash value of all the farms in 
Kentucky, $155,021,262; in Indiana 
$136,385,173.* 

So much for the pretended information 
of Helper's mythical friend, who, he says 
had ' 



<?nt,/7.'^ •17"'^'^! V^^P^ding Crisis of the 
South " loiihdeep attention. It seems to be aicork 
of great merit, rich, yet accurate, in statistical in- 
formation, and logicalin analysis," eaysWm.H. 

vJ^!- *^y *^® sixty-eight Eepublican mem- 
bers of Congress. So say yoa aU, gentlemen ? 



" Sailed^ down the Ohio." " Stopping at seve- 

on tet°an?'«""''' ^^V? ^^^ "g"* ^^^nkSn 
vm "\p '- w>,^'' on.untU he arrived at Evans- 
fn !;^ 7. ; Whenever he landed on free soU he 
la^ \',* H?."^ °^^ ^'^ *^° hundred per cent, more 
valuable than the slave soil on the opposite bank.'' 

We have shown by reference to the 
Census tables that, on the other hand, the 
truth is that farms in Virginia average 
1315 more in value than those of Ohio, 
while farms in Kentucky average $620' 
more m value than those of Indiana. . To 
convict Helper of such a monstrous blun- 
der IS nothing,— but what becomes of Bill 
Seward, who has read his book so careful- 
ly, and certifies its accuracy? Ah, Billy! 
that was a bad job for you— your political 
felo de se. 

Helper next refers to some wild lands 
and barrens in Southern States worth only 
3T1, and even 25 cents per acre. WeD 
what of it? There are milhons of acres 
of worthless lands in the Northern part of 
New York and Maine and other non-slare- 
holding States, that might be bought for 
much less. We have a near relative who 
recently bought a tract of wild land in 
Frankhn county. New York, -for 18 cents 
per acre, and we thought he made a poor 
investment at that. He admitted his only 
chance for a return upon the investment 
was the chance of finding some sort of ores 
on the land, which he has never yet thought 
it worth while to go to look at. 

As to the silly comparison of Arkansas 
with Michigan, which Helper quotes from 
one Berden, we merely remark that while 
Michigan was first settled by the French 
as early as 1650, over two hundred years 
ago, and while it is geographically located 
on the direct route of emigration from the 
Eastern States and chief Atlantic sea- 
ports, Arkansas was an unbroken wilder- 
ness fifty years ago, and had not even a 
Territorial government until 1819. With 
all this advantage, Michigan instead of 
having three times the population of Ar- 
kansas, has less than double by Helper's 



tit IS hardly necessary for us to inform the read- 
er that there are no sailing craft on the river, which 
has such a swift current that it is only navigable 
for steamers. 



own table, page 144, taken ft-omtheU. S. 
census of 1850, viz : Michigan 39 '[,654, 
and Arkansas 209,891. Here, then, is 
another monstrous lie.* While about it, 
why not have compared Michigan with 
some one of the several Southwestern 
States that have greatly outstripped her, 
and made the lie a little larger by alleging 
that she had beaten them ? 

" Virginia was a State wealthy and 
prosperous, when Ohio was a wilderness," 
says Helper, and forthwith he institutes a 
comparison intended to be unfavorable to 
Virginia. Why not have taken some one 
of the New England States instead of 
Virginia? For instance, Massachusetts, 
the largest of the New England States in 
population and wealth — "was a State, 
wealthy and prosperous, when Ohio was 
a wilderness," and Massachusetts now 
compares far more unfavorably with Ohio 
than does Virginia, which we have already 
shown excels even Ohio, according to the 
Census of 1850, in the ^-verage value of 
her farms. To illustrate the unfairness 
of contrasting the incirease of population in 
old settled States, having so much wsste 
land as Massachusetts and Virginia, and 
to give a quietus to the argument against 
negro slavery that Helper seeks to deduce 
therefrom, let us take non-slaveholding 
Massachusetts, instead of Virginia, and 
slaveholding Tennessee, in place of uon- 
slaveholding Ohio, and here are the figures 
according to the Census of 1850 — page 
40 Comp. : 

Popu'n in 1790 1800 1810 1820 1850 
Mass. . . . 378,717 423,245 472,040 523,287 904,514 
Tenn 35,791 105,(502 261,727 422,813 1,002,717 

Here we see a young slave State start- 
ing in 1790 with less than a tenth the pop- 
ulation of Massachusetts, the "brag" 
State of Abolitionists, and in a race of 
sixty years the Slave State has gained up- 
on Massachusetts in a tenfold ratio, and 

*" J have read the " Impending Crisis of tJfe 
South'^ wilh deep attention. It seems to be aworle 
nf great merit, rich, yet accurate, in statistical in- 
fonrmliori, and logical in analysix,'^ says Wm. H. 
Sbwabd. 

Amen ! say the aixtj'-eight Republican members 
of CoDgresB. So say yon all, gentlemen ? 



33 

actually excels her in population ! It i^ 

but fair to turn Helper's own logic upon 

him, as a captured battery is turned in 

battle, to do execution upon its former 

owners. We quote from him, except the 

words in italics. 

" Compare the progress of these States, and then 
say what is it but negro slavery that has advanced 
Tennessee ? and to what except Puritan fanati- 
cism and Negrophobia, can we attribute the non- 
progression of iMassachuselts ?^^ 

After reminding the reader that on page 
24 this " degenerate son of a noble sire" 
informs us that his father was a " slave- 
holder while he lived," we shall now 
quote a few of his compliments to the old 
gentleman and others who hold slaves as 
he did: 

" Slaveholders are a nuisance."— pg. 139. 

" We believe thieves are, as a general rule, less 
amenable to the moral law than slaveholders. Or- 
dinarily thieves wait until we acquire a considera- 
ble amount of property, and then they steal a dis- 
pensable part of it."— pg. 140.t 

This apologist for thieves and defamer 
of slaveholders, (such as Washington, Jef- 
ferson, and miUions of other good and 
honest men, as well as his own father,) 
goes on to say : 

" Slaveholders, on the contrarj', by clinging to 
the most barbarous relic of the most barbarous 
age, bring disgrace on themselves, their neighbors 
and their country, depreciate the value of their 
own and others' lands, degrade labor, discourage 
energy and progress, prevent non-slaveholders 
from accumulating wealth, curtail their natural 
rights and privileges, doom their children to igno- 
rance, and all its attendant evils, rob the negroes 
of their freedom, throw a damper on every species 
of manual and intellectual enterprise, that is not 
projected under thefr own roofs and for their own 



tit was imdoubtedly such reasoning that led him 
to commit depredations on the till of his employer, 
and his still persisting in such logic— so trite among 
thieves— affords poor evidence of reform. Indeed, 
his whole philosophy— such as that slaveholders at 
the South owe him immense sums of money that 
he has never worked to earn, indicates a moral 
insanity equal to Huntington's ; and as we are dis- 
posed to place the most charitable construction 
upon his case, we shall charge his criminal course 
of reasoiiiijg, as also his conduct, to a brain natu- 
rally defective and a heart naturally corrupt. If 
by the moral law, he means the decalogue, the 
ten commands refer to and recognize servitude, 
without disapproval, while it says positively, ' Thou 
shalt not steal,' and ' Tbou shalt not covet 

thy neighbor's man servant nor thy 

neighbor's maid-servant," &c. Now the question 
ari8e8,whioh is the better standard in morals — thb 
Bible or Mr. Helper 7 



84 



advantage, and, by other means equally at vari- 
ance wl h the principles of justice, though but an 
insignificant fractional part of the population, they 
constitute themselves the sole arbiters and legisla- 
tors for the entire South. Not merely so ; the 
thief rarely steals from more than one man out of 
an hundred ; the slaveholder defrauds ninety and 
nine, and the hundredth does not escape him. 
Again, thieves steal trifles from rich men ; slave- 
holders oppress poor men, and enact laws for the 
perpetuation of their poverty. Thieves practice 
deceit on the wise ; slaveholders take advantage 
of the ignorant. We contend, moreover, that 
slaveholders are more criminal than common mur- 
derers." 



returns, without accepting Helper's guess- 
work modifications. I 



It is unnecessary to reply to sucJi raving 
nonsense. We merely give a copious ex- 
tract as a sample of the fellow's sf.yle.* 

The bugaboo yarn on 'page 14), about 
pretended murders of negroes witli'^it pun- 
ishment of the murderers, might have been 
a reality as exceptional cases aiij where • 
but it will require something more than a 
Helper's say-so to make anybody beUeve 
there is a word of truth in it, especially as 
no name, time or place is given. 

Helper next quotes from the census to 
show that the number of slave) lolders in 
the Southern States in 1850 wa.s 347,525. 
He then assumes, on the sti-engtii of a pre- 
tended conversation with Mr. De Bow that 
some of the Census Marshals falsely in- 
cluded slave-hirers m their returns as 
slaveiK Iders, — and therefrom infers that 
the number of slaveholders is but little 
more than half as great as the sworn census 
returns show. Now we do not l-elieve Mr. 
De Bow ever authorised such a silly state- 
ment in his behalf, or said anything from 
A^ hich it could be fairly inferred. Even 
had he done so, it could have l)een only a 
matter of opinion on his part, and we should 
demand from him the proof, (which Helper 
would certainly have given if in his pos- 
S'^ssion) that a, single Census Marshal at 
the South was so ignorant as to return a 
solitary slave-hirer as a slaveholder. We 
shall therefore adhere to the sworn census 

» "I have read the " Impendinc/ Crisis of the 
South " wUh d^ep aUfniion. li sienna to be a tcork 
of (freat merit, rich, yet accurate, xn staiisiinnl in- 
.formation, and logical in analysin.^' says Wm. H. 
Sewaed. 

Amen ! say the ality-eight Republican members 
of Congress. So say you all, gentlemen? 



He next contrasts the number of slave- 
holders with the total white population of 
the slaveholding States, of which he con- 
cludes they constitute but a small fraction ; 
and he therefore designates them as an 
aristocratic oligarchy, against whom he at- 
tempts to incite the non-slaveholders to ac- 
tive hostility. Let us look into this mat- 
ter a little. IS'ow, any one who knows the 
extent of the custom of the grown-up and 
married sons of planters with their fami- 
lies to remain on the homestead plantation, 
taking charge of the negro "quarters," 
located in various parts of it, (while the 
old pater familias still prudently retains 
his title deeds and ownership of the ne- 
groes, ) will admit that ten white persons 
is but a moderate estimate of the average of 
men, women, children and grand-children to 
each plantation, having at its head but one 
slaveholder. Then, multiplying the num- 
ber of slaveholders (347,525), by the av- 
erage number of white persons on each 
plantation, or belonging to the family of 
each slaveholder (10), we shall see tJiat 
the number of the white population di 
rectly included in the families of the slave 
holders is 3,475,250, or more than half the 
entire white population. Then add the 
number of white persons included in the Inm- 
ihes of non-slaveholders, who annually hii-e 
slaves, and in the families of overseers vv ho 
are hired by slaveholders, and we s^iall 
find that, while the families of slavehoh !ers 
comprise mere than half the white popula- 
tion,the families of slavehirers and overj^eers 
embrace nearly all that remains. As to 1 he 
small portion of white population not, in- 
cluded in the families of slaveholders, hi- 
rers or overseers, they are as much inter- 
ested in the preservation of the institution 
as these classes themselves. Whether thev 
be merchants, mechanics, professional men 
or common laborers, their profitable em- 
ployment depends upon the prosperity of 
the three classes comprising the chief pop- 
ulation of the Southern States; and the 
turning loose of three or four million ne- 



groes, now profitably employed in adding 
to the wealth of the community in which 
they live, to wander wild and idle, to 
prowl about, day and night, pillaging, pil- 
fering and plundering, would be as terri- 
ble a calamity to non-slaveholding mer- 
chants, mechanics, lawyers, doctors, school- 
teachers, laborers and their families, as 
to the slaveholders and their families. All 
would be involved in common ruin by such 
.an insupposable catastrophe as ignorant 
Abolition fanatics dream of as a millenial 
blessing, and knavish demagogues dwell 
upon with demoniac dishonesty, for the 
purpose of playing upon the ignorance of 
, their dupes at the North, and thereby fill- 
ing their pockets or obtaining office. 
There is, therefore, no such antagonistic 
•class to the interests of slaveholders to be 
found in the South, as Helper pretends to 
appeal to, as any man knows who has ev- 
er visited the slaveholding States. His 
Sery appeals are intended for the Northern 
market alone. His pretence of addressing 
classes at the South is as false as that he 
himself is a citizen of the > South. Both 
these lies are adopted for eiiect — to give 
a new phase to Abolitionism and a new 
sensation to stimulate the zeal of its silly 
dupes, and to secure more Uberal contri- 
butions of cash and enthusiastic servility 
to sectional demagogues. 

Weep, Oh ye blood-thu'sty Puritan fa- 
natics of New England ! at the discour- 
aging demonstration we have given — so 
clear and conclusive that even the most 
thick-skulled and narrow-brained among 
you can no longer hug the delusive hope 
to your hellish hearts, that there is any 
class of the white population of the South 
that can be incited to deeds of blood and 
murder by your incendiary appeals! Hang 
your harps upon the willows that droop to 
the earth and sigh to every wind with the 
wailings of your paupers and criminals — 
more numerous than anywhere else on the 
face of the earth ! Hang up your fiddles 
in hopeless despair, or pitch them to ?orae 
other tune, when you would insult your 
Maker with their solemn mockery ha yom* 



85 

Sunday show-housea, while the cries of 
hunger and want are mingling with the 
melody of your music in just complaints 
against the accursed oppression of your 
capitaUsts, who exact sixteen hours per 
diem labor at starvation wages, while your 
operatives are in health, and leave them 
to suffer, shiver and starve in sickness and 
age! 

"The negroes, in nine cases out often, would be 
delighted with an opportunity to cut their masters' 
throats.'"*— page 194. 

This fiendish declaration is as utterly 
unfounded as it is infamous and infernal. 
Poor John Brown and his gang — who 
were probably incited, encouraged and 
deluded by the lies of Helper's Crisis into 
their crazy onslaugh at Harper's Ferry, 
have already proved to the world the fideli- 
ty, happiness and contentment of the ne- 
groes at the South, and their affectionate 
devotion to their masters. In his sojourn 
in the vicinity, and final onslaugh, he was 
unable t"o induce a single one of them eith- 
er to take up arms against his master 
or even to leave his service. Among the 
millions of negro slaves it would be strange, 
indeed, if there were not some bad and des- 
perate negroes, and occasional murders 
committed by them. But with all the in- 
cendiary efforts of the pious Puritan hell- 
whelps of New England and the North, 
there are not half as many murders com- 
mitted by negroes in the whole South, in 
I any year, as by white persons in the single 
j city of New York alone, or a fourth a.-? 
i many as in Massachusetts, with but about 
' a fifteenth part as great population. What 
think ye of tliis, ye far-seeing philanthro- 
pists? During the past year there hare 
not been as many murders by the four mil- 
lion negroes of the South as were commit- 
ted a few weeks ago by your hero-saint, John 
Brown, and his gang of pious assassins, 
with the very Sharpe's rifles raised by con- 



* " 7 have read the " Impendivg Crisis of the 
Sonih" with deep attention. It seems to be a toork 
of great merit, rich, yet accurate, in statistical in- 
formation, and logijcal in analysis," says Wm. H. 
Seward. 
j Amen ! say the sixty-eight Republican mem- 
\ bers of CopgreBs. Bo eay yon all, gentlemen T 



36 



tributions in your churches 1 Aye, now 
you weep! — and your sincerity we do not 
doubt — but not for the innocent blood you 
caused to be shed, nor widows and orphans 
and homes made desolate of peacefel cit- 
izens of a sister State, nor yet for the 
just but terrible fate of the assassins who 
did murder with the deadly weapons that 
like demons you furnished them for their 
damning deeds. But for what? Ah! but 
for the $20,000 gone without even a sto- 
len nigger in return! This is enough to 
overwhelm your stingy souls with sorrow 
inconceivable. We shall not attempt to 
comfort you ; nor can you derive any con- 
solation from the new gospel according to 
Helper. You have already found that to 
be a "refuge of Ues," and lost all the 
fands you invested for the propagation of 
his faith! Poor souls! May Satan soon 
take you to himself, and reheve the world 
of your polluting presence. 

Helper inveighs bitterly against some 
real or imaginary persons — for he gives 
no names, and his own word does not 
weigh much — whom he represents as 
owning from one to two hundred thousand 
acres, and hundreds of slaves. Does the 
fellow not know that in New York and 
even Boston and other JSTorthern cities, 
there are millionaires who own property to 
a much greater amount? while in those 
same cities are to be found thousands of the 
poorest and most destitute people in the 
world — living in mere holes of attics and 
cellars, and hundreds of families crammed 
in single tenement houses? Why then at- 
tribute excessive wealth and excessive 
poverty and sufferings to negro servitude, 
when the North exceeds the South in a 
tenfold ratio of both? \--:^^< 

Assuming to have shown negro sla- 
very to be a "monstrous evil," and pre- 
tending that some " Slaveocrat," whom he 
does not name, has admitted it, he next sets 
about showing how, in his opinion, the 
Southern States may abolish it as easily 
as did the Northern States. But as we 
have shown that while the chmate of the 
North rendered the institution unprofita- 



ble, and it was consequently abolished, uip 

the contrary the climate of the South r ;- 

ders it profitable and alike beneficial [> 

both the white and black races, it is i 

necessary to follow the fellow in his fan - 

fill speculations as to how a thing mig 

be done which nobody concerned — whc 

sole business it is — wants done. We ha 

shown that there is not a tithe of t 

pauperism and crime in the slaveholdi; 

States that there is in the non-slaveholdii 

States — that the productions in proportii 

to population are much greater, and ne 

exports three or four times as great, whi 

by turning the negroes loose at the Sout 

both races would be ruined, and the Sout 

ern States soon become a deserted wilde 

ness unless reclaimed by subsequent revJ 

lution and the revival of the existing rehl 

tions between the whites and blacks. 

Merely for amusement, however, w 

shall copy Helper's crazy scheme for abo 

ishing slavery, (since it has received th 

unquaUfied endorsement of Vv^m. H. Sew 

ard and sixty-eight Black Republican Con 

gressmen.) It is as follows: 

" 1. Thorough organization and independent po 
litical action on the part of the non-slaveholdinj 
whites of the South. 

2. Ineligibility of slaveholders— never anothe 
vote to the trafficker in human flesh. 

3. No co-operation with slaveholders in politic: 
— no fellowship with them in religion — no affilia 
tion with them in society. 

4. No patronage to slaveholding merchants — n( 
guestship in slave-waiting hotels — no fees to slave 
holding lawyers — no employment of slaveholding 
physicians — no audience to slaveholding parsons. 

5. No recognition of pro-slavery men, except a; 
ruffians, outlaws and criminals.* 

6. Abrupt discontinuance of subscription to pro 
slavery newspapers. 

7. The greatest possible encouragement to fre( 
white labor. 

8. No more hiring of slaves by non-slaveholders 

9. Immediate death to slavery, or if not imme 
diate, unqualified proscription of its advocate! 
during the period of its existence. 

10. A tax of sixty dollars on every slaveholdei 
for each and every negro in his possession at fh< 
present time, or at any intermediate time betweei 
now and the 4th of July, 1863 — said money to b( 
applied to the transportation of the Macks to Li 
beria, to their colonization in Central or Sent! 
America, or to their comfortable settlement with 
in the boundaries of the United States. 



*Washington, Jefferson and his own father wouk 
have fared badly by his system. 



11. An addlucnal tax of forty dollara per annum 
to be levied Rnnnally, on every slaveholder for 
each and every segro found in his possession after 
the 4th of Joi}', 1S63— said money to be paid into 
the hands of the negroes so held in slavery, or, in 
cases of death, to their next of kin, and to be 
used by them at their own option.'' 

We shall not insult our readers by a se- 
rious review of this silly scheme for doing 
what those concerned do not desire to do; 
bnt submit it without comment, as the 
summing up of the logic of Helper's first 
two chapters — in the language of geome- 
tricians, as a reductio ad ahsurdum. 

Helper panders to sectional jealousy 
thus: "The Presidency of the United 
States has been held forty-eight years by 
slaveholders from the South." Let us see 
— ^by whom? 

1st. Washington 8 years. 

2d. JeiFerson ' 8 years. 

3d. Madison 8 years. 

4th. Monroe 8 years. 

5th. Jackson 8 years. 

Here are the names of five slaveholders 
who held the Presidency forty of the for- 
ty-eight years; and which of them could 
our country have spared? Who would 
Helper have sugested in theii' place? Did 
they thrust themselves, or did the South 
thrust them upon the Xorth, or did not 
the whole country rather call them forth 
to fill her highest office? It is certainly no 
fault of the South, but rather the highest 
hondr to her social system that she has 
produced five of om- greatest Presidents, 
and the only ones whom the country were 
wrilling to re-elect. 

During the last quarter of a century, 
3r since the close of Jackson's administra- 
tion, the office of President has been filled 
less than a third of the time by citizens of 
Southern States. But suppose it were 
Dtherwise — what matters jt where a man 
tvas born or lives, so that he is the choice 
3f a majority of the electors of the coun- 
try, without which he would not be able 
;o attam the office? But enough of such 
lonsense. It is too silly to waste words 
ipon. 

On page 162 Helper speaks of the "po- 
rerty of the whitea and wretchedness of 



87 

the blacks" at the South, We have al- 
ready adduced the statistics of pauperism 
and crime from the Census to prove that 
there is ten times as much poverty and 
wi-etchedness at the North as at the 
South. 

On the same page he refers to the De- 
claration of Independence as an Abohtion 
document. Does not the blockhead know 
that nearly all its signers were slavehold- 
ers, and that at that day nobody dreamed 
of the equal rights of the negro race with 
the white? 

On pag-e 163 he predicts that if 
the South retains slavery, it will finally 
become like Poland, Cuba and Ireland. 
Tnw, Poland and Ireland are non-slave- 
h.jiding provinces, and their misfortrmeg 
j cannot therefore he traced to negi'o sla- 
very, while slaveholding Cuba is not only 
"the brightest jewel in the crown of Spain," 
but the richest and most productive island 
of the earth, while her sister isles of the 
West Indies, in which negi'o slavery has 
been aboUshed, are decayed and impover- 
ished, and rapidly sinking still further be- * 
low their high condition when under the 
thrifty cultivation of negro servitude. 

Under the head of "How slavery can 
be aboUshed," our raving, rambling rhoda- 
montadist devotes most of his space to 
villifying his "dear native South," as the 
hypocrite elsewhere calls the land of hia 
birth, from which his own vile conduct and 
character has made him an inglorious and 
unhappy exile forever, like Arnold — far 
below whose level he sinks in comparison, 
having never previous to his treason done 
anything great or good to mitigate his 
miserable meanness. Well, let the serpent 
hiss and spit out his harmless venom, since 
we have extracted his statistical fangs. 
Serpent-hke, he next turns to strike at his 
city of refuge, and attempts to besUme 
the Democratic party, that polls three- 
fourths of its 80,000 votes. He speaks of 
the large vote for Buchanan in the "Five 
Points Precinct." Most of our readers 
are aware that this notorious locahty has 
been demoUshed and rebuilt with respect- 



able business houses, until scarcely a rem- 
nant of its former infamous inheJjitants re- 
main. Iq the Eighth, Ninth and other 
wards, wheve prostitution and infanay are 
now most prevalent, the RepubUcan party 
polled their heaviest vote for Fremont. 
But this is entirely foreign to the object 
of our review, as also to the avowed ob- 
I ject of his "Crisis of the South," and we 
only refer to it to show the partisan dem- 
agogaiery which governed the Tribune 
scribes in getting up this abominable book, 
in the name of a Southern refugee. The 
good and glorious old Democratic party 
needs no vindication of its moraUty from 
the base aspersions of such a leprous char- 
acter — "a dishonest, degraded and dis- 
graced ma/i," as Senator Biggs truly des- 
ignated him. 

Speaking of a Democratic procession in 
New York, he quotes approvingly: "It is 
melancholy to think that every individual 
in that multitude, ignorant^ and depraved 
though he may he, foreign "perhaps in his 
birth, * * * is equal in the power 
» which he may exei'cise by his vote, to the 
most intelligent and upright man in the com- 
munity." But yet he thinks the negroes 
both North and South entitled to the 
rights of citizenship, and that Cuffee and 
Cudjo would make capital voters ! 

Again, on page 112, he says, in refer- 
ence to the last Presidential election: " Tlie 
illiterate foreigners of the North, and the 
unlettered natives of the South, were cor- 
dially united," and on the next page, after 
designating some of our best citizens — in- 
finitely his own superiors in every honora- 
ble or manly attribute — as "low Irish 
CathoUcs," he says: 

" AVith the intelligent Protestant element of the 
fatherland on our aide, we can well afford to dis- 
pense with the ignorant Catholic element of the 
Emerald Isle. In the influences which they exert 
on society, there is so little difference between 
slavery, Popery and negro-driving Democracy, 
that we are not at all surprised to see them going 
hand in hand in their diabolical works of inhuman- 
ity and desolation."* 

^ '' I have read the "Impending Crisis of the 
iSouih " loith deep allenlion. It seems to be a work 
of great merit, rich, yet accurate, in statistical in- 
formation, and logical in analysis,'^ says Wm. H. 
Seward . 



38 

So it seems that our beauty Is not onl, 

a red-mouthed, raving AboUtionist, bu 
also a full-b\ooded Know Nothing, of thi 
real tiger stripe — of the Baltimore an( 
Louisville breed of blood-thirsty "pups o 
perdition." Not content with trying U 
stir up non-slaveholders to bloody strif( 
and fratricidal warfare with their slave 
holding neighbors, the scoundrel would fail 
involve our native and naturaUzed citizens 
in a war of classes, caste and creed.* He 
would renew the Louisville massacre and 
conflagration — the Philadelphia church- 
burnings — the Boston Convent mobs — the' 
Baltimore murders by wholesale — the New 

I Vi ■]';•■' Tis reign of terror — and the St. Louis; 

i-sl u !;ter and arson. Such is the Saint 
\. iiO. praises are in the mouths of the Pu- 
ii.aus and Pharisees of priest-ridden, paus: 
per-producing and crime-cursed New Eng- 
land ! Such the author who has received 
Seward's unqualified endorsement, and the 
cordial approval and active aid of the 
leaders of the Black Republican party, in- 
cluding no less than sixty-eight members 
of Congress! Such the book the Black* 
Republicans are raising money by thous-i 
ands to cumulate broadcast over the coun- 
try, while at the same time they are try- 
ing to honeyfugle the G ermans and Irish ! 
Helper speaks highly in praise of Botts, 
Stuart and Macfarland, of Yirgiuia; of 
Raynor, Morehead, Miller, Stanley, Graves 
and Graham, of North Carolina; of Da- 
vis and Hoffman, of Maryland; of Blair, 
of Missouri; of the Marshalls, of Ken- 
tucky, and of Etheridge, of Tennessee; 
but we doubt whether his slimy adula tion 
is acceptable to any of these except Davis 
and Blair. The former claims to have 
been elected to the present Congress by 
the Plug Uglies and Rip Raps of the 
rowdy-ruled Cityof Baltimore, although 
his seat is contested — the only Southern 
member that voted for a Black Republi- 



* '^ I have read the ' Impending Crisis of the 
South ' with deep attention. It seems to be a viork 
of great merit, rich, yet accurate, in statistiral in- 
formation, and logical in analysis,^^ says Wm. H. 
Seward. 

Amen ! say the sixty-eight Republican members 
of Congress. So say you all, gentlemen ? 



89 



oan Speaker; and the latter was one of 
the anthers, aiders or abettors of the infa- 
mous book — formerly a member of Con- 
gress from St. Louis, Mo., but defeated in 
his last run by a large majority. 

Helper pays his respects to the old 
Whig- party in these words : 

" For it3 truckling concessions xothe slave pow- 
er, tho Whig party merited defeat." — Page 174. 

The denunciations of such characters 
constitute the highest praise they have 
power to bestow. 

On page 184, Helper says that the 
negroes 

" May or may not be tlie descendants of Adam 
and Eve. For our own part we are frank to a- 
fe89 we do not believe in the unity of the race, . ' 

So, after all, he does not believe the 
negroes belong to the human family — ii;> 
less he thinks they are the human famiiy 
and that the white race are not — Ibr 
he is " frank to confess" that he does not 
believe that the whites and blacks belong 
to the same race. If he thinks there are 
two human races, he denies the Bible, 
which teaches that Adam was the father 
of the whole human family. But what he 
thinks or does not think, in theology or 
natui'al history, is a matter of little im- 
portance. 

Helper scouts the idea of paying owners 
for their slaves in order to emancipate 
them, but says, " You must emancipate 
your slaves, and pay each and every one i 
of them at least $60 cash in hand !" Such | 
bedlamite nonsense would be unworthy 
serious reply, only that Mr. Seward has 
read it " with deep attention," and thinks 
it " a work of great merit — rich, yet accu- 
rate, in statistical information, and logical 
in analysis." So that Seward thinks Hel- 
per's statistics, the falsity of all of which, 
or of his deductions therefrom, we have 
incontrovertibly proven, are not only accu- 
rate, but that his deductions therefrom are 
sound — for it is "logical in analysis," and 
" a work of gr^at merit," without a flaw 
it would seem from his sweeping certifi- 
'^ate, for he has read it with "deep atten- 
tion," and endorsed the whole unreservedly, | 



without any exception or the slightest 
qualification. Let us see, learned Sena- 
ator — there must be over four milhons of 
negro slaves at the South by this time — 
and you say they must have .:;60 each, 
cas/i— that is $240,000,000. Now tfjl 
is more than twice the amount of specie 
in the whole country. How .-ould you 
have been so inaccurate in your statistics 
as to sanction a demand for the immediate 
payment by the slave owners of such an 
impossible sum ? And what do you and 
Helper mean by saying "You must eman- 
cipate your slaves" ? Do you mean to do 
anything dreadful if they don't ? Or did 
you mean the threat in a "political" or 
Pickwickian sense? 

" Onr motto, and we woald have you to under- 
staud it, is the abolilion of slavery, and Ihe perpet- 
uation of the American Union. If, by any 
means, you do succeed in your treasonable at- 
tempts 10 take the South out of the UnioB to-day, 
we will bring her back to-morrow — if she goes 
away with you, she will return without you." 

Verily, this is bold talk for a fugitive 
Carolinian, and his Senatorial and Con- 
gressional endorsers, when it is remem- 
bered that they represent a party that is 
in a minority of several hundred thousand 
votes even iu the non-slaveholding States.* 
Nonsense, Seward I Fie, Sherman 1 — 
Pshaw, Helper ! We, the great mass 
and majority of the people at the North, 
would not permit you to invade our South- 
ern brethren, even if you were desirous of 
doing so; but we will risk you. We know 
you well. Unlike the beast of prophesy, 
you have the voice of a lion, but are as 
harmless as lambs, so far as the blood and 
thunder of battle is concerned. The South 
may sleep easy. 

Helper closes his second chapter thus: 

" Our purpose is as firmly fixed as the eternal 
pillars of Heaven ; we have determined to abolish 
slavery, and so help us God, we will." 



*The Presidential vote of 1856, iii the non-slave- 
holding States, was, for Buchanan, 1,224,750; for 
Fillmore, (who claimed to b© as anti- Abolition sfh 
Buchanan, and thus divided and weakened the ef- 
fect of the National vote,) 393,590— both together, 
1,618,340. Fremont's vote, 1,340,618. Fremont'^ 
minority in the non-slaveholdiag States, 277,722.. 
Had Fillmore not run, Buchanan would have car-^ 
ried nearly the whole North. 



40 



When it is remembered that, but a year 
or two before, this same Helper wrote and 
published the "Land of Gold" from wLich 
we gave extracts in a former chapter, shew- 
ing that he then thought negro slavery to 
be the only blessing which Central Amer- 
ica and Mexico awaited to cause their 
wilderness to blossom as the rose, there is 
still a faint hope that he will relent, al- 
though it is to be hoped that he will be 
careful not to pull down the pillars of 
Heaven. His magniloquence and balder- 
dash rem-ind us forcibly of another terri- 
ble fellow, who had been "flung" by his 
sweetheart, and gave vent to his smother- 
ed rage in the following subUme stanzas: 

" I'll seize the loud thunder — 
With the lightnings I'll play, 
Burst the old earth asunder, 
/ And kick it away ! 

" The rainbow I'll straddle, 

And ride to the moon ; 
O'er the ocean I'll paddle 

In the bowl of a spoon ! 

•' I'll set fire to the fountains, 

And swallow each rill ; 
I will eat up the mountains, 

And be hungry still ! 

•' The rain shall fall upward, 

The smoke tumble down ; 
I'll dye the grass purple, 

J nd paint the sky brown I 

" Then the sun I'll put out— 
With the whirlwinds I'll play ; 

Turn the day into night. 
And then sleep it away ! 

" I'll flog the young earthquakes— 

The weather I'll physic : 
Volcanoes I'll strangle, 

Or choke them with phthysic ! 

" The moon I wijl smother 

In nightmare and woe ; 
The stars at each other, 

For sport, 1 will throw 1 

" The rocks shall be preachers — 

The trees do the singing ; 
The clouds shall be teachers, 

And the comets go spreeing ! 

" I will tie up the winds, 

In a bundle together, 
Ajid tickle their ribs 

With a peewee featlier !" 



CHAPTEE III. 

" SOUTHERN TESTIMOKY AGAINST SLAVERY. 

*' Whet the Fathers of ine Republic thooght of 
Slavery— Opinions of Washington— JefferEon— 
Madison— Monroe — Henrj' — Randolph — Clay— 
Benton— Mason — McDowell — Iredell— Pinkney — 
Leigh— Marshall— Boiling:— Chandler— Summers 
— Preston — Fremont — Blair — Maury — Birney. 
Delaware — McLane. Maryland — Martin. Vir- 
ginia — Bill of Rights. North Carolina- Meck- 
lenburg Declaration of Independence — Judge 
RufSn. South Carolina — Extracts from the Wri- 
tings of some of her more sensible sons. Geor- 
gia- -Gen. Oglethorpe— -Darien Resolutions." 

It has been truly remarked that, by 
garbling men's letters or speeches, we may 
make them say anything, and even that 
the Bibl*^ itself may be made to seemingly 
sustaii: . i (ism,— for in it may be found 
these i .i,- words: "There is no God!" 

By CO. -ing the context, however, we 
shall find, that, instead of sanctioning this 
awful sentiment, the very sentence in which 
these words occur, when taken together, 
brands it as folly, and its advocate as a 
fool, for it then reads: "The fool hath 
said in his heart, There is no God!" 
Words and sentences are governed in their 
significance by the connection in which 
they are employed, the circumstances un- 
der which they are uttered, and the motive 
of the person by whom they are pronounced. 
With these remarks we might dismiss the 
string of garbled extracts from speeches 
and writings of distinguished Southerners, 
of which Helper's third chapter consists, 
— one of these gentlemen, whose language 
has been so basely perverted to a precisely 
different meaning from what he designed, 
having already denounced the fraud in 
more severe terms than we have yet em- 
ployed towards his traducer. But, while 
we are. aware that it would be as uninter- 
esting as it is unnecessary to follow the 
fellow through the entire catalogue of good 
men's names that he has had the effronte- 
ry to claim as sharing the shame of his in- 
famous sentiments, we shall nevertheless 
refer to three or more of the most illustri- 
ous among them, for the purpose of prov- 
ing that they held such seditious wretches 
as himself in as much abhorrence as we 



41 



and all intelligent patriots do at the pres- 
ent day. 

In referring to vVashington, Jefferson 
and Madison, each of whom held slaves as 
long as they lived, we do not deem it ne- 
cessary to quote from their writings to 
vindicate them from the implied charge of 
base hypocrisy in practising so differently 
from their pretended preaching— or to 
prove that they did not sanction Helper's 
doctrine that slaveholding was a crime or 
a great moral wrong. Such a motive 
would be alike insulting to their sacred 
memory and the miUions of American pa- 
triots by whom their honored names are 
justly held in such high and heartfelt ven- 
eration. Our object in doing so is rather 
to remove the fog in which fanatical incen- 
diaries have attempted to becloud their 
glorious fame, by explaining the circum- 
stances and impulses under which they em- 
ployed the language he has quoted to per- 
vert. 

All well-read historians are aware that 
the policy of the British government for 
preserving the American colonies in its 
possession as provinces fi'om which it might 
derive the greatest possible revenue, while 
at the same time they should be so popu- 
lated as to secure subjection, was to flood 
America with the servile savages of Afri- 
ca. It was a perception of the obvious 
object of this policy on the part of Eng- 
l%nd, no less than the evils arising from a 
constant and increasing influx of untamed 
Africans — far beyond the requirements of 
the colonies at that day, without regard 
to adaptability of climate, that led intelli- 
gent patriots, previous to the Revolution, 
to protest against this oppressive policy. 
So eloquent were the appeals of the colo- 
nists that Parliament passed an act for 
their aUeviation ; but it met with the royal 
disfavor and the opposition of the ministry 
and peerage. In the general indignation 
of the colonies, Jefferson and other young- 
patriots of his day naturally shared ; and 
hence in his first draft of the Declaration 
of Independence, one of the most emphat- 
ic clauses of complaint against the oppres- 



Biou of the mother country was upon this 
score. When presented to the Colonial 
Congress, however, it met with such bitter 
opposition from the representatives of New 
England, and some other of the patriotic 
signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
that it was not incorporated into that great 
instrument. For the same reason, and 
to concihate New England, whose com- 
merce was then so largely engaged in the 
African slave trade, the Convention 
to form the Federal Constitution — that 
glorious constellation of cardinal compro- 
mises — under the benign rays of which our 
country has risen to such unrivalled great- 
ness — provided that the African slave 
trade should not be inhibited for twenty 
years, or until 1808. At the time the 
Constitution was formed, very few bales of 
cotton and no considerable amount of rice 
had been exported from America; and the 
labor of the wild Africans was as unpro- 
fitable as their presence was unpleasant. 
No wonder, then, that Washington and 
Jefferson and some other patriots of the 
Revolution at that period regarded the in- 
stitution of African slavery as one of evil 
omen, and therefore wrote against the per- 
petuation of the African slave trade, by 
which the cupidity of New England ship- 
ping merchants threatened to overrun the 
country. But the hand of prescient Provi- 
dence was in the matter — there was 
a gi'eat destiny for the African race to be 
wrought out in America, that was far be- 
yond the ken or comprehension of our wi 
sest statesmen. The culture of the cotton 
plant became profitable by a timely inven- 
tion for extracting its seeds with such fa- 
ciUty that it could be furnished in market 
at about a fourth of its former price. Its 
production, as also that of tobacco and 
rice, the demand for which increased si- 
multaneously to an incalculable degree, 
from causes only known to Omniscience; 
and the cultivation of each of these gi-eat 
staples which have elevated the Southern 
States so far above any other agricultural 
region in the world, — in wealth, happiness 
and refinement, — required such simple and 



42 



easy manual labor as the AMcan race was 
only fitted for. The result has been the un- 
precedented prosperity of the white people 
of the Southern States and the civilization 
and christianizing of many times more mil- 
lions of Africans than were ever before rescu- 
ed from their native barbarism and horrible 
cannibal ferocity in the whole history of 
the world. Meanwhile the rapid relapsa- 
tion into barbarity, misery and want, of 
the emancipated Africans proved to all 
observing minds, that those who suppo- 
sed that race capable of elevation to an 
equahty with the whites, were as wide- 
ly mistaken as were those who had sup- 
posed they could never be tamed and 
trained to sufficient civilization to render 
them profitable in a servile capacity. This 
problem was wrought out, from its oi-igjnal 
inception to its final solution, during the 
days of the founders of the RepubHc ; and, 
although none of them ever entertained the 
bloody or brutal sentiments of Seward, 
Helper or Jolm Brown, they still had occa- 
sion to modify the sentiments of their 
earher days. But we have launched 
out into a more lengthy historical and 
philosophical disquisition than we design- 
ed, — as we desired only to show that the 
sentiments expressed by some of the fath- 
ers of the Republic, wMch Helper has 
quoted or perverted, were entertained un- 
der circumstances vastly different from 
those that now exist — and that they had 
reference to the African slave trade, or 
the continued importation of wild Afri- 
cans, rather than to the retention and 
kind care of those already here. 

We shall now first refer to Washington, 
who, having no direct issue, did, as many 
Southeners still do, in such States as have 
not been compelled to prohibit it in conse- 
quence of the injury they have experienced 
from Abolition incendiarism or free-negTO 
vagabondism, viz: emancipated his slaves, 
by his will. In his Farewell Address, 
in which he addressed the country upon 
all subjects that he deemed essential, he 
said not a word even by way of advising 
voluntary emancipation or State abolition 



of slavery, much less of the aggressive 
policy of a war by one section of the 
Union against another to effect that end; 
but he did say: 

" A solicitade for your welfare, which canaot 
eod but with my life,and the apprehension of dan- 
ger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an o(!- 
casioD like the present, to offer to your eolemn 
contemplation, and to recommend to your fre- 
q'.ieut review, some sentiments, which are the 
result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable 
observation, and which appear to me all-impor- 
tant to the permanency of your felicity as a 
people. These will be offered to you with the 
more freedom, as you can only see in them the 
disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who 
can possibly have no personal motive to bias 
his counsel ; nor can I forget, as an encourage- 
ment to it, your indulgent reception of my sen- 
timents on a former and not dissimilar occa- 
sion. 

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with ev- 
ery ligament of your hearts, no recommenda- 
tion of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm 
the attachment. 

The unity of government, which constitutes 
you one people, is also now dear to you. It is 
justly so ; for it is a main pillar in the edifice 
of your real iorfependence ; the support of your 
tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of 
your safety ; of your prosperity ; of that very 
liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is 
easy to foresee, that from different cause?, and 
from difl'ereat quarters, much pains will be ta- 
ken, many artifices employed, to weaken, in 
your minds, the conviction of' this truth ; aa 
this is the point in your political fortress against 
which the batteries of internal and external en- 
emies will be most constantly and actively, 
tbough often covertly and insidiously directed, 
it is of infinite moment that you should proper- 
ly estimate the immense value of your national 
union, to your collective and individual happi- 
ness ; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual 
and immovable attachment to it ; accustoming 
yourselves to ■think and speak of it as the palla- 
dium of your political safety and prosperity ; 
watching for its preservation luith jealous anxi- 
ety ; discountenancing whatever may suggest 
even a suspicion that it can in any event be aban- 
doned ; and indignantly frowning upon the 
first dawjiing of every attempt to alienate any 
portion of the country from the rest, or to ei fee- 
ble the sacred ties which now link together the va- 
rious parts. 
For this you have every inducement of sym- 



48 

pafhy and interest. Citizens by birth or choice, 
of h cummoQ couatrj, that country lias a right 
to c<niceQtrate your affections Tht name ol 
Ameiicun, which belongs to you ia your ua- 
tioDiii capacity, must always exiilt the just 
pride (it patriotism, more than any appellation 
deriveij from local discvimiuatioiia. With 
slighr, aliades of difforence, you have tlir' same 
religion, manners, habits, and political princi- 
ples. You have, in a common cause, fought 
and triumphed together : the indpendence and 
liberty yon possesH, are the work of joint coun- 
cils, and joint eSorts, common dangers, suffer- 
ings and succt'sses. IBut these considerations, 
however powerfully they address themselves to 
your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by 
those which apply more immediately to your in- 
terest ; here every portion of our country finds 
the most commanding motives lor carefully 
guarding and preserving the union of the whole. 
The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with 
the South, protected by the equal laws of a 
common government, finds, in the productions 
of the latter, great additional resources of mar- 
itime and commercial enterprise, and precious 
materials of manufacturing industry. Tiie 
South in the same intercourse, benefitting hy the 
agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow, 
and its commerce expand. . Turning, partly in- 
to its own channels, ihe seamen of the North, 
it finds its particular navigation invigorated : 
and while it contributes, in different ways, to 
nourish and increase the general mass of the 
national navigation, it looks forward to the pro- 
tection of a maritime strength, to which itself 
is unequally adapted. The East, in like inter- 
course v7ith the West, already finds, and in the 
progressive improvement of interior communi- 
cation, by land and water, will more and more 
find a valuable vent for the commodities which 
it brings from abroad or manufacturer at home. 
The West derives from the East supplies requi- 
site to its growth and comfort ; and what is, 
perhaps, of still greater consequence, it must, 
■of necessity, owe the secure enjoyment of indis- 
peosable outlets for its own productions, to the 
weight, influence, and the future maritime 
streng^lh of the Atlantic side of the Union, di- 
rected by an indissoluble community of interest 
as one nation. Any other tenure by which the 
West can hold these essential advantages, whe- 
ther derived from its own separate strength, or 
from an apostate and unnatural connexion with 
any foreign power, must be intrinsically preca- 
rious. 

While, then, every part of our country thus 
; feels an immediate and particular interest in 



Union, all the parts combined cannot Ml to 
find, in the u-ited mass of means and efforts, 
greater stieugth, greater rueource, proportion- 
ably greater security from external danger, a 
ieps frequent interruption of their peace by for- 
eign nations; and, what is of inestimable value, 
they must derive from Union, an exemption 
from those broils and wars between themselves, 
which 50 frequently afflict neighboring coun- 
tries; iiot tied tugetiier by the same govern- 
ment ; which their own rivaiships alone would 
be sufficient to produce, bu< which opposite 
foreign alliances, attachmeiits, and intrigues, 
would stimulate and embitter. Hence, like- 
wisi^ they will avoid the th*.- necessity of those 
overgr(;wn military establishments, which, un- 
der any form of government, are inauspicious 
to lib&rty, and which are to be regarded as par- 
ticularly hostile to republican liberty ; in this 
sense it is, tl at your union ought to be consid- 
ered as a main prop of your liberty and that 
the lovei of the one ought to endear to you the 
preservation of the other. 

These considerations spea,k a persuasive lan- 
guage to every reflecting and virtuous mind, 
and exhibit the cootinuance of the Union, as a 
primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a 
doubt whether a common government can em- 
brace so large a ?[ihere ? Let experience solve 
it. To listen to mere speculatioii, in such a 
case, were crimuial. We sire authorized to 
hope, that a proper organizatioi) of the whole, 
with the auxiliary agency of governments for 
the respective subdivisions, "ill afibrd a happy 
issue to the experiment, it j.s well worth a 
fair and full experiment. With such powerful 
and obvious motives to union, affecting all 
parts of our country, while experience shall not 
have demonstrated its impracticability, there 
wiil always be reason to distrust the patriotism 
of those, who, in any quarter, may endeavor 
to weaken its bands. 

In contemplating the causes which may dis- 
turb our Union, it occinv, as a matter of seri- 
ous concen;, ihiii any ground should have been 
furnished for characterizing parties by geo- 
graphical discriminations — Northern and South- 
ern — Atlantic and Western ; whence designing 
men may endeavor to excite a belief that there 
is a real difference of local interests and views. 
One of the expedients of party to acquire in- 
fluence, within particular districts, is, to misre- 
present the opinions and aims of other districts. 
You cannot shield yourselves too much against 
the jealousies and heart burnings which sprirg 
from these misrepresentations : they tend to 
render alien to each other those who ought to 



44 



be botind together by fraterral affection. The 
inhabitants of our Western country have late- 
ly had a useful lessen on this head ; they have 
seen, in the negotiation by tl^e Executive, and 
in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of 
the treaty with Spain, and in the universal sat- 
isfaction at that event, throughout thi. United 
States, a decisive proof how unfounded were 
the suspicions propagated among them, of a 
policy in the general government, and in the 
Atlantic States, unfriendly to their interests in 
regard to Mississippi : they have betn witness- 
es to the formation of two treaties, that with 
Great Britain and that with Spain, which se- 
cure to them everything which they could de- 
sire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards 
confirming their prosperity. Will it not be 
their wisdom to rely for the preservation of 
these advantages on the union by which they 
were procured ? Will they not henceforth be 
deaf to those advisers, it such there are, who 
would sever them from their brethren and con- 
nect them with aliens ?" 

Now for Jeffersox. Whatever senti- 
ments he may have held in his younger 
days, under other circumstances, during 
his Presidency he acquired slave territory 
of a greater extent than all the rest of tlie 
Union together, and sanctioned the treaty 
providing for the preservation of such pro- 
perty therein. In the last years of his 
life, (during all of which he held slaves, 
and left them to his heirs,) he deplored 
and denounced the Missouri Compromise, 
as Abolitionists delight to designate the 
Act of 1820, by which Congress assumed 
to abolish slavery in the Territories north 
of the southern boundary of Missouri, 
thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes 
north latitude, as a condition appended to 
the admission of that State into the 
Union. Here is what Mr. JefiFerson said 
on the subject: 

MoNTicELLO, Dec. 10, 1819. 
Dear Sir : — I have to acknowledge the re- 
ceipt of your favor of November the 23. The 
banks, bankrupt law, manufacturers, Spanish 
treaty, are nothing. These nre occurrences 
which, like waves in a storm, will pass under 
the ship, but the Missouri question is a break- 
er on which we lose the Missouri country by 
revolt, and what more, God only knows. From 
the battle of Bunker Hill to the treaty of Pa- 
ris, we never had so ominous 'a question. It 



■even damps the joy with which I hear of your 
higli health, and welcomes to me the consequen- 
ces uf my vant of it. I thank God that I 
sh.iJ! not live to witness its issue. 

To John Adams. 

MoNTicELLO, March 12, 1820. 

1 thank you, dear sir, for the information in 
your favor of the 4th instant of the settlement, 
of the present, of .the Missouri question. I am 
so completely withdrawn from all attention to 
public matters, that nothing less could arouse 
me than the definition of a geographical line, 
which, on an abstract pi-inciple, is to become 
I the line of separation of these States, and to 
render desperate the hope, that man can ever 
enjoy the two blessings of peace and self-govern- 
ment. The question sleeps for the present, but 
is not dead. ***** 

To H. Nelson, Esq. 
Thomas Jefferson to William Short : 

MoNTicELLO, April 13, 1820. 

Dear Sir: — * * * Although I had 
laid down as a law to myself never to write, 
talk, or even think of politics, to know nothing 
of public affairs, and therefore had ceased to 
read newspapers, yet the Missouri question 
aroused and filled me with alarm. The old 
schism of Federal and Eepublican, threatened 
nothing, because it extended in every State, 
and united them together by the fraternization 
of party. But the coincidence of a marked 
principle, moral and political, with a geograph- 
ical line, once conceived, I feared would never 
more be obhieratcd from the mind ; that it 
would be i-ecurring on every occasion, and re 
uewing irritations, until it would kindle such 
mutual and moral hatred as would render sep- 
aration preferable to eternal discord. I have 
been the most sanguine in believing that our 
Union would be of long duration. I now doubt 
it much, and see the event at no great distance, 
and the direct cobseqiience of this question, not 
by the time which has been so coafidcntly 
counted on — the laws of nature control this — 
but by the Potomac, Ohio, and Missouri, or 
more probably the Mississippi, upwaros to our 
northern boundary. My only comfort and con- 
fidence is that I shall not live to see this ; and 
1 envy not the present geueratiorj the glory of 
throwing away the fruits of their father's sac- 
rifices of life and fortune and of rendering des- 
perate the experiment which was to decide ul- 
timately, whether man is capable of self-gov- 
ernment. The treason against human hope 
will signalize their epoch in future history as 
the counterpart of the model of their predecea- 



45 



Jefferaon to John Holmes . 

MoNTicELLO, April 20, 1820. 
" I thank you, dear sir, for the copy yoa have 
been so kind as to send me of the letter to your 
constituents, on the Missouri question. It is 
a perfect justification to them. I had for a 
long time ceased to read newspapers, or pay 
any attention to public afifairs, confident they 
were io good hands, and content to be a pas- 
senger in our bark to the shore from which I 
am not far distant. But this momentous ques- 
tion, like a fire-bell in the night, awakened and 
filled me with terror. I considered it at once 
as the knell of the Union. It is hushed indeed 
for the moment ; but this is a reprieve only, 
not a final sentence. A geographical line, co- 
inciding with a marked principle, moral and 
political, once conceived and held up to the 
angry passions of men, will never be oblitera- 
ted ; and every new irritation will mark it 
deeper and deeper. 

" An abstinence, too, from this act of power, 
would remove the jealousy excited by the under- 
taking of Congress to regulate the condition 
of the different descriptions of men composing 
a State. This certainly is the exclusive right 
of every State, which nothing in the Constitu- 
tion has taken from them and given to the Gen- 
eral Government. Could Congress, for exam- 
ple, say that the non-freemen of Connecticut 
should be freemen, or that they shall not emi- 
grate into any other State ?" 

Again, Mr. Jefferson, in a letter to Mr. Mad- 
ison, says : " I am indebted to you for ycur 
two letters of February 7 and 19. This "Mis- 
souri question, by a geographical line of divi- 
sion, is the most portentous one I have ever 
contemplated." * * * [Generally under- 
stood to be Rufus King,] " is ready to risk the 
Union for any chance of restoring his party to 
power, and wriggling himself to the head of it; 
nor is" * * * •< without his hopes, nor 
fecrnpulous as to the means of fulfilling them." 

Now for Madison, who also held slaves 
during his whole life, and at his death left 
them to his heirs: 

Mr. Madison, also, in a letter to Mr. Monroe, 
in 1820, says : " On one side it naturally oc- 
curs, that the right, being given from the necessi- 
ty of the case, and in suspension of the great 
principle of self government, ought not to be 
extended further, nor continued longer than the 
occassion might fairly require." 

Mr. Madison says further : " The questions 
to be decided seems to be — 1. Whether a terri- 



torial restriction be an assumption of illegiti- 
mate power ; or 2. A miauso of legitimate 
power ; and, if the latter only, whether the in- 
jury threatened to the nation from an acquie^- 
c^!nce in the misuse, or from a frustration of it, 
be the greater. On the first point, there is cer- 
tainly room for difference of opinion ; though, 
for myself, I mu?t own tlint I have always 
leaned to the belief that the restriction was not 
within the true scope of the Comtitution." 

With regai-d to Mouroe we need only 
say that he concuiTed entirely with Wash-' 
ington, Jefferson and Madison upon the 
subject. Not a scrap of liis writings can 
be shown to the contrary. Although he 
owned no slaves at the time of bis death, 
it was because bis natural generosity had 
impoverished liim so that he died in the 
city of New York, without property, and 
even shared the grave of his benefactor in 
Trinity Cemetery at his death. 

As to Patrick Henry, the quotations of 
Helper are without date of time or place 
or name of the person it is pretended he 
wrote to; and we shall waste no words 
upon a mere Helper's say-so, after having 
exhibited his dishonesty and falsehood, 
even where he pretended to give these 
particulars. 

With this expose and branding of the 
human hyena who would prey upon the 
remains of the honored dead, we dismiss 
his third chapter in disgust. 

C H A PTER IV. 

" NOKTHERN TESTIirONY. 

" Opinions of Franklin — Hamilton — Jay — Adams 
— Webster— Clinton — Warren — Complimentary 
Allusions to Garrison, Greeley. Seward, Sumner, 
and others." 

As to Franklin, Jay, and Noah Web- 
ster, who wrote mildly in favor of abol- 
ishing negro slavery in their respective 
States, the climate of which rendered the 
institution unprofitable to the white race 
and unhealthy for the residence of the 
blacks, we shall only remark that they 
wrote under the same circumstances that 
the Revolutionary writers alluded to in 
cur last chapter expressed the same senti- 
ments, which subsequent experience, obser- 
vation and modified circumstances caused 
them to change, as we have shown. — ■ 



46 



Neither Hamilton, Clinton, nor Warren 
ever wrote a word or entertained a. senti- 
ment in favDr uf abolishing the isibtitution ; 
and the garbled, extracts from 'heir wri- 
tings were addressed to the natural rights 
of the white freemen of America and 
Europe, in antagonism to the claims of 
England and other European oligarchies 
and despotisnas to rob them of their lib- 
erty. John Quincy Adams we acknowl- 
edge to have been an infamous hicendiary 
Abolitionist, well worthy of juxtaposition 
in the same category with Garrison, Gree- 
ley, Seward, Sumner and other sectional 
fanatics, and frothing traitors to the coun- 
try and constitution that all American 
patriots hold dear as life itself. In answer- 
ing and refuting Helper's falsehoods iMsd 
slanders, we also overwhelm their posi- 
tions, as he has embodied all of them in 
tis own disgusting disquisition. It is un- 
necessary to take them each separately, 
since we can deal with them all at once, as 
does the husbandmai; in mowing weeds, 
taking all in his way together with each 
sweep of his scythe. 

CHAPTER V. 

" TKSTIMONT OF THE NATIONS. 

" The Voice of England— Opiniong of Mansfield — 
Locke— Pitt— Pox— Shakspeare—Cowper— Mil ton 
— .Johnson — Price— Blacltstone — Coke — Baiop- 
den— Harrington— Foitescue — Brougham — The 
Voice of Ireland — Opiniong of Burke— Gurran — 
Extract from the Dublin University iviagazine for 
December, 1856— The Voice of Scotland— Opin- 
ions of Beattie — Miller — Macknight — The Voice 
- of France— Opinions ofLatayette--Moniesqaieii-- 
Lonis X — Buffou—Roussean— Brissot— The Voice 
of Germany— Opinions of Grotius—GoeT.he— Lu- 
ther— Extract from the Letter of a living Geru.an 
writer to bis Friends in this Country— The V^-icu 
of Italy— Opinions of Cicero— Lactantius— Leo 
X— The Voice of Greece— Opinions of Socrates 
—Aristotle— Poly bins— Plato." 

As to the voice of England, whose op- 
pressive and accursed government has 
starved to death millions of generous-heart- 
ed Irishmen and simple-minded Hindoos, 
and hundreds and thousands of her own 
toiling masses, within the last twenty 
years, we seek no instruction from her 
statesmen and sages in the science of gov- 
ernment or in the adjustment of our do- 
mestie relations. Within her own borders. 



at this moment, there is more suJBFeringi 
squalid want, hopeless misery, among her 
half-starved stocking weavers, factory op- 
eratives, coal-mine crawlers, and work- 
house inmates, than has been known in the 
whole history of negro slavery, in our 
own country or elsewhere, since the first 
cargoes of African savages were rescued 
from the terrible barbarity and horrid can- 
nibalism of their own native clime. "The 
voice of England," indeed ! It is too deep- 
ly intonated with the dying groans of her 
starving people, to be pleaded as oracular 
in our happy land, »nd especially in our 
thrice happy, sunny South, where jubilant 
songs of joy and gladness are ever rising 
and reverberating, umningled with the 
notes of want and wo! It is but just, 
however, to the more modern names inclu- 
ded in Helper's category, to say that most 
of them never uttered a sentiment such as 
Helper seeks, by garbling and perversion, 
to make them appear to express. As to 
the more ancient writers' expressions ad- 
duced, so far as they had any reference to 
slavery at all, they were uttered against the 
system of white slavery prevailing ancient- 
ly in Europe, in which the white slaves 
were not protected in the manner the ne- 
gTO slaves of our Southern States are at 
this day; but, on the contrary, they were 
really regarded as chatties, the absolute 
property of their masters, who might even 
put them to death at pleasure, without be- 
ing held amenable to any human laws. 
They are, therefore, as irrelavent to the 
subject in hand as would be so many ex- 
pressions relative to the prismatic colors 
or the philosophy of Pythagoras. 

CHAPTEa VI. 

" TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCHES. 

Introductory Remarks-- Presbyterian Testimony 
—Albert Barne8--Thomas Scott— General As- 
sembly in 1818— Synod of Kentucky— Episcopal 
Testimony— Bishop Horsley— Bishop Butler- 
Bishop Portens— John Jay--- Anti-slavery Church- 
man—Baptist Testimony— Rev. Mr. Brisbane, of 
South Carolina— Francis Wayland— Abraham 
Booth— Bapti-ts of Virginia in 1789— Methodist 
Testimony— John Wesley- Adam Clarke— Ex- 
tracts from the Discipline for 1784, '85 and '97— 
Catholic Testimony— Pope Gregory XVI— Pope 
Leo X— The Abbe RaynBl— Henry Kemp." 



in 



As to the "testimony of the churches " 
and clei'gy — especially of the modern Pu- 
ritanic school — we shall readily acknowl- 
edge, that among their writings may be 
found many of the most ungodly, unright- 
eous and treasonable ebullitions that the 
emissaries of Satan have ever uttered. 
Indeed it is a well known fact that the 
most infernal villains that have ever cursed 
our earth, have 

"Stolen the livery of the Court of Heaven 
To serve the devil in." 

Priestcraft, despotism, fanaticism, and 
treason to free constijtutlonal republican 
government, are ever to be found in close 
alliance, in our own country at the present 
day, as also everywhere else throughout 
the world's history. 

By the glorious result of the Ameri.*an 
Revolution, Kingcraft and Priestcraft 
were overthrown together; and ever since 
the latter has been on the alert to regain 
its lost power. Finding itself unable to 
do so under our present happy constitution- 
al government, its myrmidons, after many 
failures, — as for instance in their crusades 
against Jefferson, Jackson and Johnson, — 
have entered upon a crusade against the 
Constitution and the Union itself, and 
their leadiug layman has proclaimed the 
conflict "irrepressible." Incendiary Ab- 
olitionism and sectional sedition first came 
from the Puritan pulpits of New England, 
and afterwards spread throughout the 
North, until aspiring demagogues sup- 
posfid it strong enough to enable them to 
secure power to themselves, by its espousal. 
First, dismembering their own commu- 
nions into Northern and Southern, they 
hoped afterwards to be able to dismember 
the confederacy, in the same manner; 
and, after getting rid of the Southern 
aiti-Puritanic element, they hoped to be 
able to obtain the ascendancy in the North, 
and thus unite Church and State, after tlie 
manner of European despotisms, where the 
clergy are maintained in luxury, laziness 
and grandeur by taxes imposed by op- 
pressive lawg upon the toiling masses of 
the land. 



After these remarks, it may be infer- 
red that we shall not deem it necessary to 
review Helper's ecclesiastica.1 authorities, 
or even to adduce the numerous contrary 
testimonies recorded l)y more honest, or 
at least more patriotic clergymen even of 
the popular Puritanic and Pharisaic de- 
nominations. Even v/('ie we otherwise 
disposed to (io so, it would be unnecessary, 
from the fact that Helper's next Chapter 
is under the head of " Bible Testimony ;" 
and, in reviewing that we shall show that 
the Bible, which all professed Christians 
pretend to take as their standard in reli- 
gion, everywhere condemns the spirit of 
modern Abolitionism, while it teaches 
servants to obey and be faithfid to their 
masters, — so that all professed churches 
Of clergymen who preread to acknowledge 
the inspiration of the. Scriptures, and yet 
preaci! Abolition incendiarism, are no 
more nor less thaa infamous impostors 
and hypocrites, utterly unwortby the 
regard either of patriots or christians. 

C H A P T E B- YII. 

''BIBLE TESTIMONY. 

'• The Bible an Anti-Slavery T.;Xt-book— Selected 
Precepts and Sayings ot Uk-. Old Te.staiiient— 
Selected Precepts and Sayings of the New Testa- 
ment— Irrefragability of the Arguments here 
and elsewhere introduced against Slavery." 

Under this head Helper has but half a 
dozen pages; but these are enough to 
amount to a full confession of judgment 
against him by the unerring standard of 
Divine revelation. It would have been 
more shrewd in him to have ignored the 
Bible altogether, or to have omitted all 
allusion to its teachings. A careful read- 
ing of his own short chapter under this 
caption is sufficient to satisfy any sensible 
person — however ignorant of the Bible — 
that it it contained any testimony against 
the domestic; relation of master and slave, 
Helper has been unable to find it, while, 
at the same time, he admits enough to 
show that he knows such domestic relation 
is sanctioned by the sacred scriptures, as 
we shall hereafter show more fuUy. 

But read Helper's hypothesis relative 
to the matter: 



" In a crude state of society — in a barbarous 
age — when men were in a manner destitute of 
wholesome laws, either human or divine, it is pos- 
Kible th'it a mild form of siavtry may have been 
tolerated, and even regulated, as an institution 
clothed with the importance of temporary recog- 
nition ; but the Deity never approved it, and, for 
the very reason that it is impossible for him to do 
wrong, he never will, never can approve it.'' — 
p. 275. 

"In a crude state of society — in a bar- 
barous age," when God conferred directly 
with the patriarchs and prophets of his 
chosen people, such barbarians as Abra- 
ham, Isaac and Jacob might have been 
tolerated in maintaining a " mild form" of 
slavery, without a \rord of divine di.sappro- 
val; and God may have sanctioned it " as 
an institution clothed with the importance 
of temporary recognition." But why does 
not the Bible say so? Not a word there 
about the temporary character of the in- 
stitution. On the contrary, it is referred 
to throughout both the Old and New Tes- 
taments, without a word of disapproval ; 
and, on the contrary, it is provided for and 
protected by the Mosaic law, as well as 
by the milder teachings of the gospel. 

" But the Deity never approved it; and, 
for the very reason that it is impossible for 
him to do wrong, he never will, he never 
can approve it." What blasphemy! This 
puny wretch then presumes not only to sit 
in judgment over the free citizens of our 
Southern States— better and wiser men 
than himself — but also over the Almighty 1 
If God differs with Helper, he will " do 
wrong." Helper, then, is rJie standard; 
and what he approves must be regarded as 
right, and the Almighty must agree with 
it or he will " do wrong!" Helper's Crisis 
must be taken as the standard, by which 
to square the volume of Divine inspiration; 
and if the good Book teaches differently 
from Helper, as it does throughout, it can- 
not mean what it says, or it must be wrong! 
Away with such nonsense — such abomina- 
ble blasphemy ! 

But the impious writer goes further 
still, and says: 

" Even that system, however, the worst, which 
seems to have been practiced to a considerable 
extent by those venerable old fogies, Abraham, 



48 • 

Isaac, and Jacob, was one of the monstrous inven- 
tions of Satan that God 'winked' at ; and, to the 
mind of the biblical scholar, nothing can be more 
evident Llian that He determined of old, that it 
sh)ald, n due time, be abolished."— pp. 275-6. 

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob must be de- 
nounced as " old fogies" — followers of 
" Satan;" or, in his language to slavehold- 
ers at the South, as " ruffians, outlaws and 
criminals." As he says God winked at 
the Satanic institution maintained by these 
ruffians, outlaws and criminals. He, too, 
must be included as particeps criminis. 
As he sustained these " old fogies," &c., 
against the assaults of their ungodly ene- 
mies, he is liable to the same epithets that 
Helper and his ungodly allies apply to 
those who sustain our Southern fellow-cit- 
izens at the present day — such as " dough- 
faces," "lickspittles," &c. 

Strange, if God determined of old that 
the patriarchial institution should be abol- 
ished, that ho should have forgotten to say 
so, anywhere in the sacred volume, by the 
mouths of any of his prophets or apostles! 
— especially .so, since we are warned 
against beuig "wise above what is written." 
Stranger still that in the decalogue God 
should have provided for the protection of ' 
such property as man-servants and maid- 
servants, in common with houses, oxen or 
asses and other property, in the command 
against covetousness. According to Help- 
er, instead of doing so. He should have 
said: " Thou shalt have no man-servants 
nor maid-servants, ye nor your children." 
Strangest of all, that, instead of saying 
so, He should have inspired Moses to 
write, (Leviticus xxv. 44-46:) 

"Both thy bond-men and thy bond- 
maids, which thou shalt have, shall be of 
the heathen that are ronnd about you; of 
them SHALL YE BUY bond-mex and 

BOND MAIDS. 

Moreover, of the children of the stran- 
gers that do sojonrn among you, of them 
SHALL YE BUY, and of their families that 
are with you, which they begat in your 
land: and they shall be your possession. 

And ye shall take THEit as an inheri- 
tance FOR YOUR children after you, to 



49 



INHERIT THEM FOR APESSESSION; THEY SHALL 
3E YOUR BOXD-MEX FOREVER." 

It will be perceived there is no " wink- 
ing" nor blinking here. The command of 
God to the chosen people is as positive as 
it is possible for language to make it. 
" Of them SHALL ye buy bond-men and 
bondmaids, — " they SHALL be your 
possession" — " ye SHALL take them as 
an inheritance for your children," &c. Ac- 
cording to Helper this is very "wrong" 
on the part of God! Rather than make 
such a blasphemous charge, how much 
better to join Garrison and Phillips, in 
acknowledging the truth relative to Bible 
teaching, and then with them repudiate 
the blessed book and demand " an anti- 
slavery Constitution, an anti-slavery Bible 
and UK anii slavery GodP' Even repudia- 
ting the Bible, however, will not relieve 
HeJperites from blaspheming God, by say- 
ing that he would do wrong to make some 
of the human family inferior or subordi- 
nate to others of their fellow men: for we 
all know that some are created stronger, 
healthier, handsomer and more intellectu- 
al than others, while some are born black, 
witli woolly heads, fiat snouts and thick 
chops — some yellow or red, with little in- 
tellect and ferocious natures — some de- 
formed, deaf, dumb, blind or idiotic — some 
rich — some poor — some to serve and some 
to rule — some to govern and others to 
obey — some in heathen lands and some in 
happiest homes — under every variety of 
advantages or disadvantages — with every 
conceivable variation of natural gifts or 
deprivations. God's allwise purposes are 
nevertheless subserved in all the variety 
presented in nature — although inscrutable 
to man — incomprehensible to the highest 
grades of intelligence, and entirely disap- 
proved of by the renegade Helper; yet 
such is the well-known truth. Shall poor 
puny worms of his creation, therefore, \ 
question the justice, wisdom or mercy of 
God, and seek to try him by a " higher 
law?" Happiness and misery, like 

" Honor and shame, from no coDditiou rise ; 
Act \rell your part ; Uier« all tlio honor lies.*' 



When the animalculoe that inhabit a 
drop of dew, — that are only visible to the 
human eye by microscopic aid, — when 
these shall be able to judge the movements 
and motives of mankind, then, but not 
until then, may man hope to have some 
faint conception of the plans of Provi- 
dence; but not until the animalculae shall 
be able to arrest the mighty enginery of 
man, may mortals hope to thwart the pur- 
poses of Deity, or revolutionize the laws 
of nature, or render equal those whom 
God has caused to differ in color, capacity 
or condition. 

Ask of thy mother earth, why oaka are made 
Taller or stronger than the weeds they shade ? 
Or ask of yonder argent fields above, 
Why Jove's satellites are less than Jove? 

Of systems possible, if 'tis confess'd, 
That wisdom infinite must form the best, 
Where all must fall or not coherent be. 
And all that rises, rise in due degree ; 
Then, in the scale of reasoning life, 'tis plain, 
There must be somewhere, such a rank as man : 
And all the question (wrangle e'er so long) 
Is only this, if God has placed him wrong? 

Respecting man, whatever wrong we call, 
May, must be right, as relative to all. 
In human works, though labor'd on with pain, 
A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain : 
In God's one single can its end produce ; 
Yet serve to second too some other use ; 
So man, who here seems principal alone. 
Perhaps acts second to some sphere unknown, 
Touches some wheel, or verges to some goal : 
'Tis but a part we see, and not the whole. 

When the proud steed shall know why man re- 
strains 
His fiery course, or drives him o'er the plains ; 
When iiie dull ox, why now he breaks the clod, 
Is now a victim, and now Egypt's god, 
Thon shall man's pride and dullness comprehend 
His actions', passions', being's use and end ; 
Why Going, suffering, check'd, impell'dand why 
This hour a slave, the next a deity. 

Then say not man's imperfect. Heaven in fault : 
Say rather, man's as perfect as he ought : 
His knowledge measured to Lis state and place, 
His time a moment, and a point his space. 
If to be perfect in a certain sphere. 
What matter, soon or late, or here or there \ 
The bless'd to-day is as completely so, 
As who began a thousand years ago. 

What if the foot, ordain'd the dust to tread. 
Or hand, to toil, aspired to be the head ? 
What if the head, the eye, or ear, repined 
To serve mere engines to the ruling mind ? 
Just as absurd forany part to cUim 
To be another in this geceral frame ; 
Just n!i absurd, to mourn the task or pains 
The great directing Mind of all ordains. 

All are but parts of one stupendous whole, 
Whose body Nature is, and God the soul ; 
That, changed through all, and yat in all tJiewOM 



1 



Great in the earth, as in the ethereal frame ; 
Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, 
Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees ; 
Lives through all Hie, extends through all extent. 
Spreads undivided, operates unspent ; 
Breathes' in our soul, informs our mortal part. 
As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart ; 
As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns. 
As the rapt seraph that adores and burns , 
To him no high, no low, no great, no small : 
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. 

Under the pretence of citing scriptural 
passages favorable to his Abolition doc- 
trines, Helper makes several garbled quota- 
tions from the Bible, altogether irrelavent 
to the subject, as all well informed Bible 
readers are well aware. Lest the connec- 
tion should expose his fraud he is careful 
to give neither chapter nor verse for any 
quotation. As there is not a solitary 
passage to be found, from the first of 
Genesis to the last of Revelation, con- 
demnatory of Slavery, we shall gratify 
the curiosity of our readers by giving his 
garblings from the Bible in full, precisely 
as they appear in his book, as follows: 

" PRECEPTS AKD SAYINGS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 

" Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto 
all the inhabitants thereof." 
" Let the oppressed go free." 
" Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
" Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor 
nor honor the person of the mighty ; but in right- 
eousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor." 

"The wages of him that is hired shall not abide 
with thee all night until the morning." 

*' Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none 
of his ways." 

" Do justice to the afflicted and needy : rid tbem 
out of the hand of the wicked." 

" Execute judgment and justice ; take awayyour 
exactions from my people, saith the Lord God." 

"Therefore thus saith the Lord; ye have not 
hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every 
one to his brother, and every man to his neighbor : 
behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the 
Lord, to the pestilence, and to the famine ; and I 
will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms 
of the earth." 

" He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if 
he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to 
death." 

" Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, 
he also shall cry, but shall not be heard." 

" He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his 
Maker." 

" I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, 
and against the adulterers, and against false swear- 
ers, and against those that oppress the hireling in 
his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that 
turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not 
me, saith the Lord of Hosts. " 
" As the partridge setteth on eggs, and hatcheth 



50 



them not ; so is he that getteth riches, and not by 
right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, 
and at his end shall be a fool. " 

"PBECEPTS AND SAYINGS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

" Call no man master, neither be ye called mas- 
ters.'" 

" All things whatsoever ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye even so them." 

" Be kindly affectionate one to another with 
brotherly love ; in honor preferring one another." 
" Do good to all men, as ye have opportunity." 
" Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith 
Christ hath made you free, and he not entangled 
again with the yoke of bondage." 
" If thou mayest be made free, use it rather." 
" The laborer is worthy of his hire." 
" Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is lib- 
erty." 

It is quite unnecessaiy for us to inform 
any intelligent Bible reader that not a sin- 
gle one of the preceding passages has any 
reference whatever to the relation of mas- 
ter and servant, which is nowhere in the 
Bible called an evil or a sin, but is lecog- 
nised, sanctioned and even commanded in 
holy writ. The liberty of the gospel is 
perverted by Helper to mean freedom 
from the condition of servants; and where 
we are commanded to call no man Master 
or Rabbi in spiritual matters excepting 
God himself. Helper attempts to profane 
the injunction and apply it to human rela- 
tions. 

That there may be no doubt as to the 
tenure of holy writ on the subject, we 
shall select a few passages from the thou- 
sand in the Old and New Testaments, with 
which to close this chapter: 

Ham, one of Noah's three sons, whose 
v^y name signifies " brown, heat or hot," 
was cursed in the beginning of the world 
after the flood, and it is said of Canaan, 
his son: 

" Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall 
he be unto his brethren, and he said, Blessed be 
the Lord God of Shem: and Canaan shall be his 
servant. And God shall enlarge Japheth and he 
shall dwell in the tents of Shem: and Canaan shall 
be his servant." 

If we are right in supposing Ham to 
have been the head of the African race, 
Shem of the copper-colored or Indian race, 
and Japheth of the Caucassian or white 
race, this prophesy has been remarkably 
exemplified; for, in our day, and in Ame- 
rica, the whites, (the sons of Japheth,) 



own negroes, (sons of Ham,) as servants, 

while they also dwell as it were in the tents 

of Shem, the Caucassian or white race 

possessing the continent. 

The first case we shall refer to is that 

of Abraham,. " the friend of God:" 

" When Abraham heard that his brother (Lot) 
was taken captive, he armed his trained seroants 
born ill his house, three hundred and eighteen, 
and pursued them unto Dan."— Gen. xiv. 14. 

Next we shall refer to Abraham's wife's 
servant: 

" But Abraham said unto Sarah, Behold thy 
maid is in thy hand, do to her as pleaseth thee, 
(you see the girl belonged to his wife) — and when 
Barah dealt hardly with her she fled (ran away 
from her, like modern kindred) from her face. 
And the angel of the Lord found her (Hagar) by a 
fountain of water in the wilderness, by the foun- 
tain in the way of Shun. And he said to Hagar, 
Sarah's maid, whence comest thou and whither 
wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face 
of my mistress, Sarah." 

When the "angel of the Lord" found 

this "pantiug fugitive," whose mistress 

had even "dealt hardly with her," what 

was the angel's instruction? He could, of 

course, have aided her to escape, had it 

betn God's will; but instead of doing so, 

" The angel of the Lord said. Return to thy 
mistress, and submit thyself under her hands." 

When it is remembered that "All 
scripture is given by inspiration, and is 
profitable for instruction," &c., it follows 
inevitably that all true Bible believers 
will take the same course with all fugitive 
servants that come under their care and 
counsel; and that all who do otherwise 
are ungodly servants of Satan and un- 
christian repudiators of God's teachings. 

" Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received 
in the same year an hundred-fold: and the Lord 
blessed him. 

" And the man waxed great, and went forward, 
and grew until he become very great. 

" For he had possession of flocks, and possession 
of herds, and great store of servants: and the Phi- 
listines envied him." — Gen. xxvi. 12-14. 

"And he said, I am Abraham's servant. And 
the Lord hath blessed my master greatly and he 
has become great; and he hath given him flocks 
and herds, and silver and gold, men-servanls and 
■ maid-servants, and camels and asses. And Sarah 
my master's wife, bor^ a sou to my master wlien 
she was old, and unto hira hafh he given all that 
that hath."— Gen. xxvi. 34-36. 

" Including his men and maid-servants," 
of course, — "They were not manumit- 



61 

ted as by some in these days, to spend 
the rest of their lives either in rags or 
hunger, or robbery. No, they were given 
as an inheritance to his son Isaac, who 
doubtless was attentive to their wants, but 
kept them to wholesome labor. We do 
not find in the Scripture narrative that 
there is any reason to suspect that Abra- 
ham when dying was visited with any com 
punctions on account of leaving his slaves 
in slavery still. Another thing may be 
observed in connection with what has been 
said in the Scripture last quoted, if the 
giving of flocks and herds, and silver and 
gold, was a ' blessing of the Lord,' so also 
was the gift of men servants and maid 
servants — and not as the self-styled Phil- 
anthropist of the present day would say 
— a curse." 

" And the man increased exceedingly, and had 
much cattle, and maid-servants, and men-servants, 
and camels, and asses." — Gen. xxx. 43. 

" And he commanded them saying. Thus shall 
ye speak unto my lord Esau: Thy servant Jacob 
saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and 
stayed there until now : 

" And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and men- 
servants, and women-servants : and I have sent to 
tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight." — 
Gen. xxxii. 4, 5. 

" But the seventh day is the sabbath of the 
Lord thy God : in it thou shalt not do any work, 
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-ser- 
vant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor the 
stranger that is within thy gates." — Exodus xx. 10. 

" And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, 
with a rod, and he die under his hand, he shall be 
surely punished. 

" Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, 
he shall not be punished: for he is his money." — 
Exodi^s xxi. 20, 21. 

" If the ox shall push a man-servant, or a maid- 
servant, he shall give unto their master thirty 
shekels of 8ilver,and the ox shall be stoned."*— Ex- 
odus xxi. 32. 

" And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron. 
This is the ordinance of the passover : there shall 
no stranger eat thereof : 

" But every man's servant that is bought for 
money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall 
he eat thereof. 

" A foreigner, and a hired servant shall not eat 
thereof."— Exodus xii. 43, 44, 48. 

Thus we see that the servant who ig 
bought with money is considered as a mem- 
ber of the family; is placed above the hired 

*The master is to be compensated for the Injury 
done to his servant, as at thtt Booth, in the present 
day. 



62 



servant in privilege, and entitled to the 
benefits of the Covenant. 

See Leviticus xix. 20; the Levitical 
slave code, Leviticus xxv. 6-55; Deut. v. 
14, 21; XV. 12-17; xvi. 11; xxiv. 13-15; 
1 Samuel ix. 3 to the end of the chapter- 
xvii. 22; xxvii. 23; 2 Samuel xvi. 1. 

"And all the people that were left of the 
Amorites, Hittitce, Perizzites, Hivitea, and Jebu- 
ites, which were not of the children of Israel, 

Their children that were left after them in the 
land, whom the children of Israel also were not 
able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon 
levy a tribute of bond-service unto this dav."— 
1 Kings ix. 20. 

By reference to the nmth chapter of 
Genesis, it will be seen that the tribes 
thus enslaved by Solomon were the descen- 
dants of Ham, or negroes. 

Set Ezra ii. 55-58; xviii. 1; Xehemiah 
11. 10: Job i. 14-17; Prov.xix. 10; xxix. 
19-21; XXX. 10; and Isaiah xi.; xviii- 
XX. ' 

In the New Testament, see Matthew 

viii. 5-13; xviii. 23-34; Luke vii. 2-9- 

John iv. 51; Acts xxii. 27, 28. ' 

'' Let every man abide in the same calline 
wherem he was called. ^a"i"B 

•* "^^''/I'^l'^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^9 a servant? care not for 
:, ^" ^l ^'^"" "*^^' ^6 ™ade free, use it rather 
t or he that is called in the Lord, bei7w a «er- 
yant js the Lord's freeman : likewise also he that 
IS called, being free, is Christ's servant."— 1st Co- 
nnthians vii. 'ZO. See also iiii. 13. 

"Servants be obedient to them that are vour 
masters according to the flesh, with fear and trem- 
h.mg in smgleness of heart, as unto Christ ; 

JVot with eye service, as men-pleasers : but as 

£e heart"*^ °*" '^*' *^'''"° *^^ '^"^ ""^ ^°^ ^'■^™ 

*' With good will doing service, as to the Lord 
and not to men : ' 

"Knowing that whatsoever good thing ary man 
doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whe- 
ther he be bond or free. 

"And ye masters, do the same things unto them 
forbearing threatening : knowing that jour Masted 
also is in heaven ; neither is there respect of per- 
sons with him. "-Ephesians vi. 5-9. 

'•Servants, obey in all things your masters ac- 
cordmg to the flesh ; not with an eye-service as 
men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing 

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the 
lyord, and not unto men : 

Knowing that of the Lord ye sh?ll receive the 
reward ot the inheritance : for ya serve the Lord 
Christ."— Col. iii. 22. 

" Masters, give unto your servTints that which i$ 

inst and equal : knowing that also ye have a Mag. 
it in heaven."— Col. iv. 1. ' 



" Let as many servants as are under the yok^ > 
count their own masters worthy of all honor, tha* 
that the name of God and his doctrine be no* 
blasphemed. 

And they that have believing masters, let them 
not despise them, because they are brethren ; but 
rather do them service, because they are faithful 
and beloved partakers of the benefit. Thua 
teach and exhort. 

If a man teach otherwise, and consent not to 
wholesome words, even the words of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is accord- 
ing to godliness, 

He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about 
questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh 
envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 

Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and 
destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is god- 
liness : from such withdraw thyself. 

But godliness with contentment is great gain."' 
—1 Timothy vi. ]-G. ■ 

" Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own 
masters, and to please them well in all things, not 
answering again. 

Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity ; 
that they may adorn the doctrine of God of our Sa- 
viorin all things."— Titus ii. 9, 10. 

" Servants, be subject to your masters with all 
fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to 
the froward."— 1 Peter ii. 18. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

"free fioubss and slave. 

" OpeningRemarks— General statistics of the Free 
and of the Slave States — Tonnage, Exports, and' 
Imports — Products of Manufactures — Mil^s of 
Canals and Railroads in Oper^iiion — Public 
Schools — Libraries other than Private — Newspa- 
pers and Periodicals — Illiterate WI. It Adults — ' 

National Political Power of the ivvo Sections 

Popular Vote for President in 18oG— Patents Is- 
sued on New inventions — Value of Church Pro- 
perty — Acts of Benevolence -Contributions for 
the Bible Cause, Tract Cause, Missionary Cause, 
and Colonization Cause — Table of deaths in the 
several States in 18S0 — Number of Free White 
Blale Persons over fiiteen years of age engaged 
in Agriculture or other out-door Labor in the 
Slave States— Falsity of the Assertion that White 
Men cannot cultivate Southern Soil — White Fe- 
male Agriculturists in North Carolina — Number 
of Natives of the Slave States in the P'ree States, 
and of Natives of the Free States in the Slave 
States— Value of the Slaves at JICO per liead — 
List of Presidents of the United States— Judges 
of the Supreme Court — Secretaries of State — 
Presidents of the Senate — Speakers of the House 
— Postmasters General — Secretaries of the Inte- 
rior — Secretaries of the Treasury— Secretaries 
of War — Secretaries of the Navy — Result of the 
Presidential Elections in the United States from 
lV9(i to 1856 — Aid for Kansas — Coutribuiions for 
the Sufferers in Porimouth, Va., during the Pre- 
valence of the Yellow Fever in the Summer of 
18 j5 — Congressional Representation — Custom 
House Receipts — When the Old Sltues were Set- 
tled and the New Admitted imo the Union — First 
European Settlements in America— Freedom ftud 



Slavery at the Fair— What Freedom Did— What 
Slavery Did— Average Value per Acre of Lan.is 
in the States of New York and North Carolina.'" 

Under this head Helper's first attemj.t 
is to show that the tonnage, exports a^'d 
imports of the North are greater than 
those of the South. As to tonnage, itvrn^ 
scarcely necessary to institute a compari- 
son: for it is well known to all intelligciit 
persons that the South makes no preten- 
sions to superiority in this line. The e: i- 
ployment of capital and labor at the South 
is too profitable to permit her people to 
engage in the carrying trade; and the 
very fact that the North does this buji- 
ness for the South is as much a confession 
of the superior thrift of 'the South, and of 
the inferior condition of the New England 
and Middle States, as is the employi;: nt 
of a porter by a gentleman to carry his 



baggage or do his errands conclusive evi 
dence of the superior pecuniary conditi'Ui 
of the latter^and of the dependence t-.d 
inferiority of the former. In the article 
of Exports, he selects the year 1855, 
(when there was a great failure of the 
Cotton crop, ) and exults over the follow- 
ing totals: 

Exports of the free negro States, $167,520,093 

Slave " 107,480 ,G88 

In the exports of the free negro States 
there is included the exportation of specie, 
the sending away of which is far from 
being considered an evidence of prosperi- 
ty; but, on the contrary, it is caused 
by the immense indebtedness of the 
North to European capitalists, which 
renders it necessary to export specie in 
order to pay the interest on such indebt- 
edness. Although the gross exports of 
t\ie North are not at all proportionate to 
its excess of population over that of the 
South, evpu including the item of specie, 
by excluding it, (as should be done in all 
comparisons intended to indicate relative 
thrift) the exports of the South of actual 
produce (even in the year selected) are 
about equal to those o"f the North, not- 
withstanding the white population of the 
latter is nearly double that of the former, 
while it is a well-known fact that half or 



two-thirds of the prodace exported from 
Northern ports are of Southern produc- 
tion. But, what may to some appear still 
more strange, the exports of produce even 
from Southern ports annually exceed those 
from Northern ports, — with rare excep- 
tions even as slight as that of 1855, which 
Helper has selected for deception. For 
instance, kt the last fiscal year be taken — 
ending June 30th, 1859, when the 

Total exportsoffree negro States were $169,162,776 
slave •' " 187,626,689 

In these figures the immense Northern 
export of specie is included, which, instead 
of being an evidence of wealth, is proof of 
poverty. Deducting this chief item, the 
exports of produce from the ports of slave- 
holding States will be found to be nearly 
double those from non-slaveholding States. 
When it is considered that far more than 
half the exports from Northern ports are 
Southern produce taken North for shipment, 
it will be seen that the slaveholding States, 
with half the white population of the 
free-negro States, produce about four-fifths 
of our actual exports of produce I What 
a heaven-favored land, and what a heaven- 
blessed institution, that produces such 
glorious results! What a terrible calami- 
ty to the North if the folly of its fanatics 
shall sever its interests therefrom! The 
sails that w-tiiten our ports would then 
soon be seen swelling in Southern seas, 
hovering around the harbors of Baltimore, 
Norfolk, Charleston, Mobile and New Or- 
leans — which already thrifty cities would 
soon become what New York and Phila- 
delphia now are, while grass would soon 
grow in the chief streets of these now 
bustling business emporiums. 

In his next table Helper shows that the 
annual manufactures of the North are of 
about five times the value of those of the 
Southern States. But he forgets to say 
that half of the value of Northern manu- 
factures consists of the raw material fur- 
nished by the South — leaving the nett 
profits of Northern manufactures, (after 
deducting the value of the raw cotton, to- 
bacco, rice, sugar, molasses, hemp and tar 



54 
famished by the South) but little more 
than the value of Southern manufactures, 
of which the South furnishes her own 
fabrics or raw material. Co; ^equently 
the South has, even in manutactures, an 
immense advantage over the Nort!;; for 
with half the white population she pro- 
duces and manufactures annually an amount 
in value nearly half the value of North- 
ern manufactures, over and above the value 
of the raw material furnished by the South, 
and which must be deducted from the 
gross value of the manufactured fabrics 
and staples of the North. It would re- 
quire but a slight stretch of intellect to 
convince any one that if the South, with 
half the white population of the North, can 
produce and manufacture her proper pro- 
portion in value, notwithstanding the more 
valuable returns afforded to Southern labor 
and capital by the cotton, tobacco, rice| 
and sugar culture, she could easily manu- 
facture as much more, or suCicient to sup- 
ply her own wants, in the event of a sep- 
aration from the North, while the latter 
would be left poor indeed — without em- 
ployment in the patronage of the South. 

In his next table Helper gives the num- 
ber of miles of Railroad and Canals in the 
free-negro and slave States, as follows: 
Canals. Railroads. 

Miles in 1854. Miles in 1867. 

Free-negro States 3,682 17,855 

Slave-negro States 1,116 6,859 

When it is considered that the slave- 
holding States embrace one third more 
area than the non-slaveholding States, while 
the white population of the latter is but 
half that of the former, it wiU be seen that 
the South has a vast advantage by this 
(Comparison, especially when it is consid- 
•ered that Southern railroads and canals 
■have been built without incurring any con- 
■siderable debt, while those of the North 
are mortgaged or their stocks held in 
•Europe for nearly or quite their entire 
-value. Why this is so may be a mystery 
to men unacquainted with the astonishing 
^difference between the general character of 
Northern and Southern men. Those who 
are acquainted therewith are well aware 



that while clever knaves at the North who 
swindle by millions or hundreds of thou- 
sands are most highly honored there 
and lead the ton of society, the same class > 
of scoundrels would not be tolerated im 
Southern society, but would soon be lynched t 
or sent wandering abroad as vagabonds, , 
like Cain or Helper. In proof of thei 
truth of our assertion, we need only give ■ 
Helper's own figures (page 285) of the 
cost of Canals and Railroads North and i 
South. For, while he gives the cost off 
17,855 miles of railroad in the 

Non-slaveholding States at $538,313,647 

He gives the cost of 6,859 miles in the 

SlavelioldiDg States at only $95,252,581 

A slight arithmetical operation will show 
tljat each mile of railroad at the North has 
cost liiore than double that of each mile 
at the South, — or, in other words, that the 
complacent and egotistic New England and 
Northern people have allo\^d themselves 
to be gulled into paying more than twice 
as much per mile for their railroads as the 
South has done, where labor is so much 
higher. Hence it is that while the South 
derives a revenue from railroads built with- 
out debt, the North is groaning under 
heavy taxes and losses from over-expendi- 
ture in the construction of such roads. 
Yerdict in favor of the South, as hitherto 
and hereafter. 

Helper next assumes, without giving any 
authority, that in 1855 there was of 

BankCanital in the free-negro States, $230,100,340 
slave " " 102,078,940 

We are sorry to see that in this instance 
the figures show such an approximate pro- 
portion favorable to the South in the ratio 
of white population. The country or sec- 
tion having the fewest Banks — the least 
Bank Capital and paper money — will be 
found to be the richest the world over, 
from the earliest chronicles of history to 
the latest precincts of time. The South 
may well be thankful that she is a Kttle 
short in this particular. 

Helper's next table gives the militia 
force of the free negro States at 1,381,843 
and that of the slave States at 192,816. 



It will be perceired that in proportion 
to white population, the South has thus, 
by Helper's own figures, about a fourth 
more militia than the North, while their 
agricultural resources, which would be de- 
veloped by negro labor in war ag well as 
in peace, would enable the South to keep 
double the force in the field without em- 
barassment and for an indefinite period 
that the North could possibly support for 
a single year with its utmost effort, even 
by adding to the number of the thousand 
starving paupers of New England, whose 
piteous wails are heard even in.times of 
peace and plenty. 

Helper's 34th and 35th tables are devot- 
ed to showing that while the stamps sold and 
postage collected in the Southern Str. ' es 
are somewhat (though not very greatly less 
than their proportion of white population) 
the cost of transporting the mails is near- 
ly as great as at the North. When it is 
considered that the area of Southern ter- 
ritory is one-third greater than Northern, 
it is quite creditable to the South that the 
transportation of the mails costs several 
hundred thousand dollars less than at the 
North. As to the revenues, any person of 
common sense knows that the postal re- 
venues of great agricultural districts are 
always inferior to those of commercial and 
manufacturing cities and communities, and 
also that mail communication with the 
former is of as great or greater advantage 
to the latter. The maintenance of mail 
facihties in the South is of as great or 
greater advantage to the publishing hous- 
es, commercial and manufacturing inter- 
ests of New England and the North as to 
any interest in the South. He is but a 
soft-brained fool who could be stirred up 
to jealousy against the South by any such 
shallow sophism as this table presents. 

Tables 36th and 37th are devoted to com- 
paring the iiumber of attendants of public 
schools in the two grand sections of the 
country respectively, whereas it is well 
known that while the abominable state or 
public school system prevails at the North 
almost universally, it has as yet obtained 



66 

little success in the Southern States. As 
a consequence the best teachers of the 
North go South to engage schools where 
their success will be commensurate with 
their merits, while the ninnies and noodles 
remain at the North, content to obtain ap- 
pointments in the pubUc schools through 
the influence of some cousin or friend. 
While the South has thus absorbed 
nearly all the best teachers of New 
England and the North the pubhc schools 
and academies of the latter have generally 
become mere asylums from broken-down 
dominies or half-witted simpletons of " re- 
spectable famihes" or popular " evangeli- 
cal churches," who could not get schools 
large enough to pay rent for school-rooms, 
if left to stand upon their own merits in- 
stead of being installed into positions by vir- 
tue of which they draw JDay from the tax- 
payers, nolens volens. 

la tables 38 and 39 he compares "Hbrariea 
other than private" in the free negro States 
with those of the Slave States ; but the 
fraud of this comparison will be manifest 
when it is noted that three-fourths of the 
3,888,234 volumes with which New Eng- 
land and the North is accredited are the 
mere wishy-washy, namby-pamby, nonsen- 
sical novels and cheap nulhties imposed upon 
school districts by rascally legislators who 
have from time to time been bought up in 
the Northern States by Book pubhshers, 
who have made immense fortunes by the 
fraud. The books are of course generally 
worthless, or the people would have pur- 
chased them without any resort to such 
rascality to impose them upon the School 
districts. Consequently, if not used for 
kindlings, they are food for mice and rats 
in the lofts or closets of the school-houses. 

Table 40 exhibits the number of news- 
papers in the non-slaveholding States as 
1,*I90, while the number in the slavehold- 
ing States is but 709, — which is indeed al- 
most up to the proper proportion of the lat- 
ter according to white population. When, 
it is remembered that printing is merely a 
branch of manufactures, and that North- 
ern newspapers are largely supported at 



the' South, the latter does not sufifer seri- 
ously in this comparison. 

In his 41st Table Helper professes to 
give the number of illiterate white adults 
(i. e. — white persons over 20 years of age, 
who cannot read or write) in the two sec- 
tions of the country, in 1850. ia doing 
80 he gives the 

Total in the Free States 422,615 

" Slave States 612,882 

Excess in " 90,367 

But by turning to page 153 of the Com- 
pendium of the U. S. Census of 1850, it 
will be found that this is false, and that 
the true figures are 

Total illiterate in free-negro States 448,659 

" " slave-negro " 514,339 

Difiference 65,780 

In this table therefore Helper lies to the 
extent of about 25,000 against the South.* 

Considering that the South is almost ex- 
clusively an agricultural region, and con- 
sequently sparsely settled, the slight ex- 
cess exhibited by the true figures of illit- 
erate persons, in that section is not at all 
surprising ; but on the contrary that it is 
no greater is a just cause of gratulatlon, 
inasmuch as the masses of New England 
and the North are annually plundered of 
millions of dollars of their hard earnings 
for the purpose of maintaining State 
Schools, Academies, Colleges, Seminaries, 
&c., while educational interests at the 
South are very properly left to the parents, 
aud the pubhc are thereby saved miliious 
of dollars of taxation. That the free edu- 
cational system of the South, however — 
(this is, free from State interference and 
the burthens of taxation consequent there- 
upon) is superior to that of New England 
and the North is clearly demonstrated by 
the excess of the number of very great 
mm produced at the South over that of 

* " / have read the Impending Crisis of the 
.iSewi/i " with deep aUeniion . It seems to be a work 
■of great taerit, rich, yet accurate, i»i. statistical in- 
/or-maLion,anJd logicalin analysis," says Wm. H. 
sSeward. 

Amen ! say the Bsi.c/-cigu6 Pwepublican mem- 
i?ers of Congress. So say you all, gentlemen ? 



ihe really great men of the North, In 
proof of this we might point to both 
Houses of Congress at the present time. 
While the North has scarcely a dozen 
repectable, gentlemanly, well educated or 
refined members, including both Houses, 
and many ■of her representatives are mere 
clowns and coarse ribalders, the South has 
scarcely half a dozen that are not well ed- 
ucated and well informed statesmen of 
gentlemanly character, fit to mingle in the 
most respectable and refined society. But 
we shall go further, and show which sec- 
tion has furnished the larger share of the 
leading statesmen of our country, from the 
origin of the government to the present 
day. 

" There have been eighteen elections for 
President, the candidates chosen in twelve 
of them being [having been] Southern 
men and slaveholders," viz : George Wash- 
ington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, 
James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, James 
K. Polk aud Zachary Taylor. In the 
meautime, there have been but six North- 
ern men elected to the Chief Magistracy 
of the country, and these certainly not su- 
perior to those already named, viz: John 
Adams, John Q. Adams, Martin Van 
Buren, William H. Harrison, Franklin 
Pierce and James Buchanan. 

" No Northern man has been re-elected, 
but five Southern men have been thus hon- 
ored," as a reward of their greatness and 
devotion to the best interests of their 
country. 

Of the twenty-two Secretaries of State, 
the South has, by the erudition and ac- 
comphshments of her sons, achieved four- 
teen appointments to eight from the North. 

Of the Attorney-Generals of the United 
States, fifteen have been from the South, 
to nine from the North. 

Of Secretaries of War, the South has 
furnished fifteen, also, to nine from the 
North. 

Of Secretaries of the Navy, the South 
has furnished twelve to thirteen from the 
North. 

Of the Postmasters-General, the South 



6T 



has famished six to eleven from the North, 
Besides this, the TJ. S. Senate and 
Hoase of Representatives, composed of a 
majority of Northern members, have nev- 
ertlieless accorded the palm of superiority 
to Southern men, more than two-thirds of 
the time since the foi'mation of the gov- 
ernment-. Indeed, while the House has 
accorded its Presidency or Speakership to 
Southerners tweaty-two times and but 
thirteen to Northerners, the Senate has 
selected as its most accomplished member 
for the Presidency pro tern, over that body 
Southern men sLsty-one times out of sev- 
enty-seven, according to Hurlbut, whom 
Helper quotes approvingly. 

In view of such testimony, from the an- 
nals of the past, of the comparative educa- 
tional claims of the North and the South, 
it is unnecessary to pursue Helper further 
upon this frail. 

In tables 44 and 45, Helper gives the 
number of members of the U. S. Senate 
and House of Representatives, which has 
since been changed, and now stands: 

Senators. M. C. Electors. 

Free-negro States 36 147 183 

Slave do do 30 90 120 

In view of this preponderance of the 
North in Congress and the Presidential 
Electoral College, it certainly should not 
be frightened by the bugbear of " South- 
ern aggi'ession," so constantly harped upon 
by unprincipled demagogues, for the pur- 
pose of exciting sectional prejudices to 
subserve their own sinister purposes. 

In tables 46 and 4t he gives the popular 
vote of the various States at the last 
Presidential election, the totals of which 
are as follows: 

Buchanan. Fillmore. Fremont. 
Free-negro States... 1,224.750 393,590 1,340,618 
609,587 479,465 1,194 



Slave do 



do 



Total.., 1,834,337 873,055 1,341,812 

It will b3 perceived that the vote for 
Fremont, the sectional nominee in 1856,- 
was less than a third of the popul.ir vote 
of the Union, while it is 27T,T22 less than 
the combined national vote even -in the 
non-slaveholding States — for Fillmore and 



his supporters in that campaign professed 
to be as national as Buchanan and the 
Democratic party, who would have polled 
the entire vote cast against Fremont, and 
thus carried nearly every Northern as well 
as Southern State, only for the division of 
the national vote by Fillmore's candidacy. 
What object Helper had in these tables 
we cannot perceive, and he doi^s not say. 
Certainly, they are not calculated to add 
much terror to his threats to the South, 
since they show the national vote of the 
Union in 1856 to have been more than 
double that cast for the representative of 
his sectional and seditious sentiments. 
Certainly, 2,t07,392 national men have 
not cause to fear subjugation or slaughter 
by 1,341,812 fanatics, fools and dema- 
gogues ! 

In his 48th table Helper shows that the 
" value of churches" in the free-negro 
States is $61,713,471, while the Southern 
States have not gone so far in imitating 
heathen pagodas and theatrical play-houses 
to insult their Maker, while pretending to 
worship Him, the "value of Southern 
churches" being given as but a third of 
the amount, viz: $21,614,581. 

In tabid 49 he gives 1,929 as the num- 
ber of patents issued to claimants from 
the free-negro States to 268 to persons 
from slaveholding States. Many of these 
are for trifling jimcracks that Southerners 
would not deem worthy of notice while 
their land is teeming with such wondrous 
wealth as the tables of our national ex- 
ports exhibit. 

Helper's tables 50 and 51 exhibit the 
"contributions for the Bible and Tract 
cause in the free and slave States, 1855," 
which foot upas follows: 

Bible. Tract. 

Free-negro States, 319,667 131,972. 

Slave " " 68,125 24,T25, 

Now, when it is recollected that th© 
Bible is a book somewhat widely circula- 
ted in our community, and is furnished at 
a few dimes by legitimate book publisherSj. 
in consequence of its great popularity and 
extensive circulation, it may be a source 



58 



of \fonder to the uninitiated why contri- 
butions should be raised for the Bible 
cause, since everybody that wants one can 
easily buy or borrow. Well, if we must say 
it, there are a great many vagabonds in 
the world too lazy to work for an honest 
living and too poor to live without it ; and 
they have to "seek out many inventions" 
to gull the simple-minded, " and lead cai> 
tive silly women." One of the most pro- 
lific sources of revenue to these dandy beg- 
gars in broadcloth is "the Bible cause."— 
The patient will pretend there is somebody 
somewhere that wants a Bible and can't 
buy or borrow or beg one, and so he (kind 
soul!) goes on a begging excursion, (by 
which he gets a good, lazy, luxurious Uv- 
ing,) and pays over something by way of 
commissions (in return for his own commis- 
sion) to the President, Secretary and forty 
other officers of some Bible Society, in or- 
der to fatten the whole crew on the funds 
thus filched from poor ignorant people. 
Well, it appears from Helper's figures 
these impostors are not so successful 
at the South as at the North. We 
congratulate the South. As to the Tracts, 
they are merely " old wives' fables," ped- 
dled by the same class of impostors to the 
same sort of silly dupes, to " sweat" them 
out of their spare change, and they have 
even been known to " suck" some silly old 
women out of their last cent of snuff-money, 
and then brag of it afterwards, over their 
fragrant Havanas pm'chased with the pro- 
ceeds. We are happy to hear that these 
imposters find fewer victims at the South 
than here and in New England. 

Helper's 52d and 53d tables are a com- 
parison of the contributions North and 
South to the Missionary and Colonization 
cause — both of which are of precisely the 
same character as the "Bible" and " Tract" 
cause — so that our preceding remarks un- 
der those heads will suffice for these. 

His 54th and 55th tables are of the 
deaths in the free negro and slave States 
in 1850, from which it appears that the 
number of deaths in the former is between 
one and two per cent, greater than in the 



latter. This is, of course, a natural conse- 
quence of the agricultural pursuits of the 
latter, by which they enjoy purer air and 
healthier exercise than the cooped-up den- 
izens of cities and crowded operatives in 
unhealthy factories. 

Helper pretends that somewhere in the 
South women work for 25 cts. per day — 
but we happen to know better. In the 
Slaveholding States women's wages aver- 
age more than double those of New Eng- 
land. A wench hires readily in Georgia for 
two or three dollars a-week, besides board 
and clothes; white women at the North 
are unable to command half the amount. 
One would suppose Helper or his helper 
was writing of the poor factory slaves oi 
New England, when he gives utterance to 
the following doleful strain: 

" That any respectable man — aay man with a 
heart or a soul in his composition — can look upon 
these poor toiling white women without feeling in- 
dignant at that accursed system of slavery which 
has entailed on them the miseries of poverty, ig- 
norance, and degradation, we shall not do ourself 
the violence to believe. If they and their hus- 
bands, and their sons and daughters, and brothers 
and sisters, are not righted in some of the more 
important particulars in which they have been 
wronged, the fault sball lie at other doors than 
our own." 

Helper is silly enough to institute a 
comparison between the populations of 
States (on his 320th page) and the num- 
ber of Senators to which the States are 
severally or in the aggregate entitled, as if 
he did not know, or supposed somebody 
else such simpletons as not to know that 
the "free and independent States," that 
originally formed our glorious confederacy, 
mutually demanded and conceded the pro- 
vision of the Constitution by which Con- 
gress consists of two bodies — the Senate 
representing each State equally, and the 
House representing the popular voice-— the 
one intended as a check or counterpoise to 
the other. This could not, of course, be 
altered, even if it were wise to do so, since 
it was a cardinal principle of the original 
compact. To ignore or abolish it would 
be to destroy the original compact and 
resolve the confederacy into its original 
elements and dissever it into its component 



59 



parts, ab initio. But if it could or should 
be done, the South would not suffer half 
as much by making the U. S. Senate a 
body composed in the ratio of population 
as would the New England States, in which 
all the fountains of bitterness arise to send 
their infectious streams of slimy poison to 
permeate our elsewise happy land. 

The statements on page 321 of the Crisis 
are simply unvarnished, glaring lies, such 
as " One free State Representative 
represents 91,935 white men and women." 
On the contrary, the free negroes of the 
North and the negresses and the little 
niggerets are counted just as though they 
were as white as the driven snow, in making 
the apportionment of representation, while 
at the South the same class of persons 
held in bondage count but three-fifths of 
their actual number in the apportionment 
of Representatives. Were the distinction 
abolished, the North would lose and the 
South gain sixteen Representatives. But 
the Constitution can only be altered in the 
way indicated by itself. A wanton viola- 
tion of any of its essential provisions would 
be sufficient cause to justify the secession 
of a single State or the stampede of a score 
of States, and could not fail to be followed 
by such results. 

The half dozen or so remaining pages of 
this chapter, Helper devotes to siUy ravings 
against slaveholders, — contrasting pre- 
tended reports of agricultural fairs North 
and South, and the average value of lands 
in New York and North Carolina — the 
one a densely settled State, with compara- 
tively Uttle waste land, while the latter 
is more than half sterile by Nature — ^unre- 
claimed and un tillable. The average price 
per acre of any particular area, however, 
is a matter of but Uttle importance, since 
we have shown that the South so greatly 
exceeds the North in the annual value of 
her surplus productions for export. If 
she does this under the disadvantage of a 
less valuable soil, so much the more cred- 
itable to her enterprising people, and their 
"peculiar institutions." 



CHAPTER IX. 

" COMMERCIAL CITIES — SOtTTHEKN OOMMBRCH. 

" Plea for a great Southern Commercial City— Im- 
portance of Cities in General— Letters from the 
Mayors of sundry American Cities, North and 
South—Wealth and Population of New- York 



folk, Buffalo, Savannah, New-Bedford, Wilming- 
ton — Wealth Concentrated atCommercial Points 
— Boston and its Business- Progressive Growth 
of Cities— A Fleet of Merchantmen— Commerce 
of Norfolk — Baltimore, Past, Present, and Fu- 
ture—Insignificance of Southern Commerce 

Enslavement of Slaveholders to the Products of 
Northern Industry— Almost Utter Lack of Patri- 
otism in Southern Merchants and Slaveholders." 
This chapter is devoted to invidious compari- 
soDs of Northern cities, commerce and manufac- 
tures with those of the South. Had the fellow 
really entertained any such respect for Thomas 
Jefferson as he pretended in a previous portion 
of his scurrilous libel of the South, he would 
have been far from boasting that the North haa 
larger cities than the South ; for there is no say- 
ing of JeflFerson extant more widely known or 
more universally acknowledged by intelligent 
men than that " Cities are great sores on the 
body politic." There is constantly more cor- 
ruption, crime and sufifering in a single great 
city of the North than in the whole Southern 
States, exclusive of their great cities. Why, then, 
should the South deplore the absence of these 
vast hod-beds of crime and wretchedness ? It ia 
true that cities are.to some extent, necessary evils, 
as commercial emporiums for the interchange 
of the productions of one section of country in 
trade for those of another; but the smaller, fewer 
and farther off, the better for the morals, peace 
and happiness of communities. The first city we 
read of was built by Cain, (Gen. iv, 17,) and the 
curse of Heaven under which )ie rested seems to 
have since attached to all cities, the populations 
of which have ever been found going " in the 
way of Cain." Whoever has stood a single 
hour upon the thoroughfares of any great city, 
or visited its suburbs, or been into the cellars, 
dens and holes, cocklofts, attics and dark dun- 
geon closets into which poor families are hud- 
dled, to drag out miserable existences or be sti- 
fled with foul air, starved or stiffened with hun- 
ger and cold, or whoever has seen poor barefoot 
children begging pennies in the dead of winter 
in New York, Philadelphia or Boston, must con- 
cur with Jefferson and ourself in regretting the 
existence of large cities anywhere. Especially 
so must any one who has ever traveled through 
the thrice happy Southern States, and heard the 
joyous strains of her jubilant negroes at their 
light and healthy labors, in return for which 
they receive support and kind care in sickness 
and old age as well as in health and youth. 



60 



In glorifyiDg citiee. Helper eays, •' Almost in- 
TariabJy do we find the best talent concentrated 
in the chief cities." Oq the contrary, it is a 
CommoQ theme of comment among thinbing 
men, how very tew great men are born or rear- 
ed in citie?. Scarcely a great scholar, poet, 
statesman or general can be pointed to who was 
either born or reared in a city. Not a single 
President of the United States and very few in- ' 
deed of our Ladiog statesmen ot subordinate 
rank. The most deusi.- ignorance as well the 
most crime and poverty will be found in cities ' 
everywhere. In large towns the time and atten- 
tion of the masses are taken up in a thousand 
frivolous ways, so that few of them ever read \ 
history or anything else, except local incidents ; 
in their flashy dailies, but little calculated to j 
instruct them in useful knowledge, while; in the | 
agricultural districts farmers and others find I 
time to read everything us'^ful. and among them [ 
may be found the best informed men of our land, i 
Hence almost all our great men are of country i 
growth. Let the reader reflect a moment, and ' 
be will be astonished to find how very few are ; 
the exceptions to this general rule. I 

Helper selects nine Northern and nine South- 
ern cities for a comparison of populat on. In- 
stead of giving the population according to the 
census of 1850, he gives his estimates. Below 
we give the latter side by side with the former: 

Free-Negro Helper's 

Cities. Estimates. isso. 

New York, 700,000 515,f47 

Philadelphia, 5u0,000 408,702 

Boston,' 165,0t'O 136,881 

Brooklyn, 225,000 96,838 

Cincinnati, 210,000 115,-43') 

Chicago, lli,000 29,963 

Providenoe, 60,000 41.513 

Buffalo, 90,000 42,2Gl 

New Bedford, 21,000 16,443 



try, by $17 to each inhabitant,) Chicago is no- 
toriously the poorest city in our country or the 
world — the mortgage records in its Clerk's office 
and the city debt actually exceeding its asse?s- 
mf'Dt roll. Boston, New York and Philadelphia 
have also corporation debts amounting in the 
aggregate to about $50,000,000, while few South- 
ern cities have any corporate debt whatever. 

Now, it is well known by all who have paid 
•alteution to the subject that the prevalence of 
Black Bf'publicanism at the North has led South- 
erners to withhold patronage from Northern 
cities and bestow it more fully upon their own, 
so tnat while the growth of the lormer has been 
very perceptibly checked in consequence, the 
growth of Southern cities has been stinaulatpd to 
s^uch an extent as to prove the possibility of 
their even outrivaling the three or four largest 
Northern cities that excel them. Let the pres- 
ent " irrepres-ible conflict," or insane sectional 
crusade continue a few years longer to intensify 
Southern prejudices against the North, and we 
shall soon see far raoie formidable insurrections 
ot the laboring classes of New England than the 
present one of the shoemakers and others, and 
grass will then grow in the streets of Northern 
cities now prosperous in manufactures and com- 
merce, while their capital and operatives will go 
to build up greater manufacturing and commer- 
oial cities at the South. Whether this shall or 
Census of i shall not be the case depends entirely upon the 



SlaTeholding 

Cities. 
Baltimore, 
New Orleana, 
St. Louis, 
Charleston, 
Louisville, 
Hichmond, 
Norfolk, 
Bavatinah, 
Wilmington, 



2,083,010 

Helper's 

Bstimate. 

250,000 

175,000 

141 1, 000 

60,t00 

70,000 

40,1 00 

;i7,ooo' 

25,01.0 
10,000 



1,403,643 

Census 

of 1850. 

169,054 

116,375 

77,800 

42,98.-i 

43,191 

27,670 

14,326 

16,312 

13,979 

520,655 



; 787 ,000 

Helper also pretends to give estimates of the 
wealth of the above cities respectively ; but, as 
they are based on such silly data, and are so 
manifestly absurd in themselves, we shall waste 
no space in commenting thereon, except to say 
that, while he makes Chicago the wealthiest city 
in the Union in proportion to population, (ex- 
ceeding even Boston, the oldest city of our coun- 



future tone of public sentiment and political ac- 
tion of the North. If the " irrepressible conflict" 
be continued, such results will follow as certain- 
ly as efl'ect follows cause in any case. There is 
nothing necessary but a firm determination upon 
the part of the South to insure it ; and there is 
nothing more calculated to inspire that determin- 
ation than the extensive circulation of books 
like Helper's, Uncle Tom's Cabin, &c., and the 
support of the candidates of the sectional Black 
Republican party. This insane sectional conflict 
is therefore but a war of Northern fanatics upon 
the interests and prosperity of their own section 
of the country. They may annoy, exasperate 
and alienate, but they cannot seriously injure 
that wealthy section of our country, which, with 
but two-fifths of the population, produces annu- 
ally about four- fifths of the exports of the coun- 
try. The world must have the cotton of the 
South — we are compelled to purchase it — but 
the South can easily obtain every article of 
Northern manufacture from Europe, or establish 
factories and build ships to manufacture and car- 
ry their products for themselves. When will 
the masses of the North learn this simple truth ? 
Will it not be until our manufactures and com- 
merce have been transferred irrevocably to the 
South, and an unemployed populace are compel- 
led to follow them thither? It not>,^the conse- 
quences will be far more terribl'e than many 
have yet contemplated. And in return, what 



n 



good will be accomplished by the insane crusade f 
that must result so ruinously to ourselves? [ 
These are questions that address themselves to ,' 
the pecuniary interests of all property-holders ' 
at the North as well as to our patriotism ; for ; 
real estate would everywhere at the North de- j 
predate to the extent of half and in many sec- • 
tioQS to a fourth or a tenth of its present value. ! 
It is an old Roman maxim, which has often been i 
verified in the histor^ of nations, that " Whom j 
Heaven wills to destroy it first makes mad!"! 
Jday the insane sectional fanaticism of the North i 
be put down by the sensible, cool-headed and j 
patriotic portion of our people before our fate i 
shall furnish another proof ot its truth. j: 

If any doubt the inevitable certainty and truth 
of our argument, let them study well the figures 
exhibiting the growth of the manufactures of a 
single Southern State, and marli what a stimu- | 
lus they received from the Wilmot proviso and 
Freesoil fanaticism that sprang up between the 
years 1840 and 1850. A Baltimore papsr (the 
Patriot) thus scans the figures : 

" The populatiou of Baltimore in 1799 was 13,- 
503 ; in 1800, 15,514 ; 1810, 35,583 ; in 1820, (32,738 : 
in 1830, 80,625 ; ia 1840, 110,313 ; in 1850, 169,054. 
The increase of inhabitants within two particular 
decades, will be found, by reference to the above 
table, to be remarkable. Between 1800 and 1810, 
the population nearly doubled itself; between 
1840 and 1850, the increase was two-thirds ; and 
for the past five jeara, the numerical extension of 
our population has been even more rapid than du- 
ring tlie previous decade. We may safely assume 
that Baltimore contains at the present time not 
less than 280,000 inhabitants. But the increase in 
tiie manufactured products of the State, as shown 
by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, is 
a matter of even greater astonistment. The sta- 
tistical tables of 1S40 estimate the aggregate value 
of the manufactures of Maryland at $13,509,636— 
ihirleeen million five hundred and nine tlioasand 
six hundred and t'lirly-sx dollars. In 1S50, the 
value of the articles manufactured within thn lira- 
its of the Srate amounted to $32,593,635— i/urty- 
twonvUionfioe hundred and ninety-three tho>/<;aiid 



manufactnres and popalation of Baltimore an<l 
Maryland. 

The census of 1860 will exhibit an astonishing 
growth of manufactures in most other Southern 
States. As an editor we have observed among 
our Southern exchanges frequent notices of the 
establishment ot Cotton Factories and various 
other manufacturing establjsnuicnis throughout 
the South during the par^t .'ew years. Let the 
masses and propprty-holders of the North be 
wise in time, and desist from the ioolish war up- 
on a section of the Union against which we have 
no real cause of hostility, and with which it is 
most vitally important for us to maintain the 
most friendly relations. 

CHAPTER X. 

"facts 4ND AKGUMENTS BY THB WAYSIDE. 

" Why this Work was not Published in Baltimore 
— Legislative Acts J gainst Slavery — Testimony 
01 a West India Planter to the Advantages of 
Free over Slave Labor— The True Friends of the 
South — Slavery Ttioughtful—Signs of Contrition 
^Progress of Freedom in the South — Anti-sla- 
very Extracts from Southern Jonrnals-^A Right 
Feeling in the Right Quarter— The Illiterate 
Poor Whites of the South.'" 

This chapter consists of a f trauge medley, 
which seems to be the odds and ends of fragtnea- 
tary ideas and essays that the writer could not 
work into any definite connection. He first 
gives as the reason why his book was not pub- 
lished in Baltimore, where, he says, a portion of 
it was written — that the laws of Mitryland would 
very properly punish the publication ot such an 
incendiary thing with "continement in the peni- 
tentiary for a period not Iwa than ten nor more 
than twenty years." So he skulks off to New 
York to get it done, hoping to find soaie greater 
fools than himself to take it in the Southern 
States and run the gauntlet for rlu; penitentiary, 
as Brown and his followers did the gallows, ia 
attempting to reduce Helper's teachings to prac- 
tice, relying upon his lying assurauce that some 



six hundred ay,d Ihirty-fioe dollars! A signal I portion of the populace of the Southern States 
proof that the wealth of the State has increased I were ready to rise at the first signal. Fatal de- 



with even far greater rapidity than its population. 
A quarter of a century ago, the sum of our man- 
ufactures did not exceed five millions of dollars 
per anuoum. At this day it may be set down as 
falling but little short of fifty millions. These are 
facts taken from olficial sources, and therefore un- 
derstated rather than exceeded. They are easily 
verified by any one who will take the necessary 
trouble to examine the reports for himself; and 
they justify us in the assertion that we are but fif- 
teen years behind Philadelphia in population, and 
are only at the same relative distance from her in 
in point of wealth." 

It cannot be doubted that the more intense 
prejudices resulting from the more intense sec- 



lusion I Not a single uon-slaveholdor, free ne- 
gro or slave could be enlisted in the bloody plot. 
He next puffs several Abolition or Black Re- 
publican papers, from which he makes numerous 
extracts — most particularly prayiug for patron- 
age for the National Era ; but nevertheless, that 
hopeful hebdomadal has since become defunct. 
The pretence that wages of white laborers 
and mechanics are lower in the slaveholding 
than in the non-slaveholding States, and that 
they are even less than the hire of negro slaves, 
requires a passing notice, since Seward has so 
unqualifiedly certified to the accuracy of Hel- 
per's statistics. After an elaborate aggregation 

tioual fanaiicii>ai of the last tea years, have pro- ; of falsehoods oa the subject, Helper sums up aa 

duced a mucb greater ratio of iaoreaae io (be follows ( 



62 



"Notwithstanding the greater density of popu- 
lation in the free States, labor of every kind is, on 
an average, about one hundred per cent, higher 
there than it is in the slave States. This is anoth- 
er important fact, and one that every non-slave 
holding white should keep registered in his mind." 

We might refer to the fact that there is scarce- 
ly a neighborhood of the North from which 
some entcrprisiug mechanic, laborerj physician, 
or lawyer, has not gone South ; and why ? Be- 
cause they get better wages there, or of course 
they would not go. But it happens that the 
census returns give the exact figures in the case. 
The table may be found on page 164 of the 
Census Compendium. We shall merely give the 
summing up of these statistics by the sworn Su- 
perintendent of the Census, on the same page, as 
follows : 

" The Commissioner of Patents in 184S sent out 
a circular to all the States, in order to ascertain 
the rates of wages paid by the agricultural inter- 
est. Answers were received from most of the 
States, which showed a remarkable uniformity. 
The average wages to field laborers with board, 
ranged from 10 to 15 dollars for the whites, and 
from 5 to 12 for the slaves, the average for female 
domestics with board, ranged from 4 to 6 dollars 
for the whites and 3 to 5 tor slaves. The average 
wages of mechanics from 75 cents to $1.60 per 
day, reaching in Texas as high as $3. Upon the 
whole the rates seem to be the lowest in the 
Northwest, and highest in the Southwest for white 
labor— the South and tiie North differing very lit- 

Could Helper and Seward and the Irihune 
junta have been so ignorant that they supposed 
there was a particle of truth in their absurd 
statements ? or did they so often lie wilfully and 
wickedly, as well as foolishly ? 



CHAPTER XI. 

" SOUTHERN LITERATUEE. 

" Instances of Protracted Literary Labor— Cora 
parative Insignificance of Periodical and Gene- 
ral Literature in the Southern States— The New- 
York Tribune— Southern System of Publishing 
— Book-making in America- The Business of the 
Messrs. Harper— Southern Journals Strustgliug 
for Existence— Paucity of Southern Autbors— 
Proportion of White Adults, over Twenty Years 
of Age, in each State, who cannot Read and 
Write, to the Whole White Population— Soutl;- 
ern Authors Compelled to seek Northern Pub- 
lishers — Conclusion. ' ' 

Under this head, the last chapter of the Crisis 
is chiefly devoted to puffing the New York Tri- 
bune and other Abolition newspapers, the Messrs. 
Harper and other Black Republican book pub- 
lishers and book-binders of the North. We shall 
not deny that all the concerns he compliments 
are entitled to the favorable consideration of all 
seditious traitors and fanatics. We shall there- 
fore leave them in the full enjoyment of the 
ctium cum digniiaie of the stink-weed ^wreaths of 



Helper's praises with which he has orowaed 

them. 

As if not fully satisfied with the extent of his 
falsification of statistics already perpetrated, he 
digresses from the general object of this chap- 
ter, and says on page 407 : 

" The proportion of white adults over twenty 
years of age, in each State, who cannot read and 
write, to the whole white population, is as follows : 
Conn 1 to every 568|Louisian.. 1 to every 38^ 



Vermont. 1 

N. H 1 

Mass I 

Maine. ... 1 
Michigan. 1 
R. Island. 1 
N. Jersey 1 
N. York. 1 

Penn 1 

Ohio I 

Indiana. . 1 
Illinois. .. I 



473 Maryland 1 

310 Miss 1 

166 Del 1 

lOSiS.Car'lina 1 



97 Missouri.. 
671 Alabama. 
oSjKent'ky.. 
56 Georgia.. 
60 Virginia.. 
43 Arkansas 
18 Tenn 



17lN.Car'linal 



20 

18 

17 

16 

15 

13J 

13 

11 

7 



By turning to page 152 of the United States 
Census Compendium, however, the true figures 
will be found to be as follows : 

Percent, of Persons over 20 years of age xoho 
cannot read and write to total Whites. 

Per cent., according Helper's 
to Census. false column. 

Connecticut. .. 1.30 or 1 to every 77 instead of 568 



Vermont 


1.97 or 1 " 


51 


473 


N. Hampshire 


.93 or 1 " 


108 


310 


Massachusetts 


. 2.79 or 1 " 


36 


166 


Maine 


. 1.05 or 1 " 


95 


108 


Michigan 


2.n0orl " 


.'^O 


97 


Rhode Island. 


2.32 or 1 " 


43 


67 


New Jersey... 


3.06 or 1 " 


33 


68 


New York . . . 


2.99 or 1 " 


3? 


" 56 


Pennsylvania. 


2.60 or 1 " 


41 


" 50 


Ohio 


. 3.12 or 1 " 


... 32 


43 


Indiana 


7.22 or 1 " 


14 


18 


Illinois 


. 4.85 or 1 " 


21 


17 


Louisiana 


8.30 or 1 " 


12' 


38J 


Maryland 


. 4.98 or 1 " 


20 


27 


Mississippi . . . 


4.53 or 1 " 


22 


20 


Delaware 


6..37 or 1 " 


16 


18 


South Carolina 6.71 or 1 " 


18 


17 


Missouri 


6.12 or 1 " 


16 


16 


Alabama 


7.91 or 1 •' 


13 


15 


Kentucky — 


. 8.74 or 1 " 


11 


m 


Georgia 


. 8.99 or I " 


11 


13 


Virginia 


8.60 or 1 <' 


U 


12i 


Arkansas 


10.37 or 1 " 


10 


n| 


Tennessee . 


10.21 or 1 " 


10 


11 


N . Carolina . 


13.30 or 1 " 


8 


7 


Texas 

Florida 

California. . . 
Iowa 


6.18 or 1 " 

8.17 or 1 " 

5.58 or 1 " 

. 4.23 or 1 " 


16 1 

12 
18 
24 J 


These States 
are omitted 
by Helper. 



What apology has Seward to make for having 
asserted the accuracy of these random figures as 
reliable statistics? Their falsity is too absurd 
and monstrous to have been the result of acci- 
dent. Seward could hardly have been so igno- 
rant as to have supposed there was any truth 
in them when he certified their accoracy. We 



63 



CONCLUSION. 

We have thus patieatly followed the writers 
of the Impending Crisis through all the various 
positions assumed, in all of which every honest 
and intelligent reader will be constrained to ac- 
knowledge we have triumphantly refuted them. 
We have left, no issue we have taken to remain 
any longer a matter of opinion in the mind of 
any intelligent man. Any person, who haa 



have merely given the Census figures of each 
State in detail to show that Helper's figures are 
manufactured out of whole cloth, only touching 
the truth in a single instance. It was not nec- 
essary for the purpose of showing the relative 
prevalence of illiteracy in the slaveholdiug and 
non-slaveholding States, for the United States 
Census itself exhibits the result of summing up 
aU the figures under this head, (page 152 of 
Census Compendium,^ thus : 

Illiterate in slaveholding States 345,887 

" non-slaveholding " 203,80(i 

Notwithstanding the South is an agricultural 
region, sparsely settled and having a far more 
extensive frontier than the old settled New Eng- 
land and Northern States, they have, therefore, 
but little over a half more white persons over 20 
years of age unable to read and write. A small 
oflfset, indeed, against the thousands of advanta- 
ges enjoyed by the South ! 

In closing his infamous book. Helper pre- 
serves his consistency by making the following 
ludicrously false declaration, amounting to a 
moral forgery of more respectable men's names 
to his tissue of lies and billingsgate : 

" Onr work is done. It is the voice of the non- 
slaveholding whites of the South, through one iden- 
tified with them by feelings, by interests and by 
position." 

Instead of being the voice of the non-slave- 
holding whites of the South, it has not yet met 
with the slightest affirmative response from any 
of that class, although it has been three years 
before the public ; and, acting in full faith of its 
truth, John Brown and his gang forfeited their 
lives as a penalty for their folly in believing it. 
and of their wickedness in approving its brutal 
doctrines, without finding a single non-slavehol- 
der, or free or slave negro in Maryland or Vir- 
ginia, to respond to its sentiments. " One iden- 
tified with, them by feelings, interests and position," in- 
deed! Why the fellow had just published his 
" Land of Gold" a few months previously, pro- 
claiming his feelings in favor of extending ne- 
gro slavery to Central America, Mexico and 
California. As to iiis interests in the South, he 
haft none — not even to the amount of a penny. 
His position is far remote from those whom he 
invites to a sanguinary slaughter, from the scene 
of which he is careful to keep himself several 
hundred miles away. 



carefully read this refutation of Helper's eleven 
chapters, and still pretends to doubt the falsity 
of every important theory h" advances, and of 
every essential statement by which he seeks to 
maiutaia the same, simply proclaims himself a 
knave or a fool, as all intelligent men will ac- 
knowledge, after having read this brief pamphlet, 
of less than bait the length of t\u; book which it 
so fully reliites. We shall merely suggest, 
therefoi-\ that inasmuch as we hf. ve written and 
published our Review and Refutation at one- 
fourth the cost of *lhe origiaal " Impending 
Crisis," and at less thai; bait the price of the 
Compendium of the work endorsed by Senator 
Seward and his sixty-eight subaltern Congress- 
men, as the Black Republican text-book for the 
(■•'Suing Presidential Campaign, all heartfelt pa- 
triots, who believe the antidote will cure the 
poison, are in conscience ))0und to see that its 
circulation shall be sufificieui lo secure the result. 
Already hare a hundred thousand copies of the 
" Impending Crisis" been circulated broadcast 
through the land, by thi- heavy subscriptions of 
hosts of fanatics and dupes and the demagogues 
that use them. Is there not, rhercfore, a solemn* 
obligation imposed upon every lover of his coun- 
try, who is intelligent enough tu comprehend 
the magnitude of the constquences involved in 
the really impending crisis, to circulate this re- 
futation to the extent of his means or influence? 
We put this question, and leave the answer to 
the conscience of every true-hearted patriot, 
feeling that to the extent of our humble ability 
we have done our part in temporarily neglecting 
a permanent interest in the most extensively 
circulated Democratic newspaper published in 
the Union, for the purpose of hastily penning 
these pages. Yes, we feel that we have done our 
duty, our whole duty, and ao.hiug but our duty. 

If, in the course of our commentaries, we have 
seemed to lean to the side of ; ;i;^ South, it has 
been the result of a natural indignation, pro- 
voked by a perusal of the incendiary work in 
hand, which aimed only at trttducing that 
glorious section of our great Confederacy. In 
answer to the calumnies rcpre-eating its inferi- 
ority in certain particulars, we havi^ been com- 
pelled to produce the true figures, which prove 
its superiority in those very things. In various 
others, which we mignt cite, if bo disposed, we 
might show the superiority of the South or North 
alternately. But it is enough to say that, while 
Odr Country has grown, within a single life- 
time, from the condition of poor and oppressed 
colonial provinces, possessed of but a population 
of three millions, to that of the most pow(?rful, 
prosperous and happy nation that the earth has 
ever known, this glorious career of our great 
republic is the result of the advantages mutually 
enjoyed and aflTorded by all the various sections 
of our Confederacy, fi'om the bond of union es- 
tablished by the compromises of that wisdom- 



64 



haloed Constitution framed by our fatbera, — 
fresh from the battle-fielda of 'the Revolution, 
upon which, in a common cause, they ban mingled 
their blood in common. If that Constitution — 
the only bond of union by which the "free and 
independent States* '" formed the original con- 
federacy — be maintained inviolate, no human 
mind can comprehend the greatoess or glory of 
our future. If, on the other hand, sectional 
fanaticism shall be encauraged until that Con- 
stitution is trampled ufider toot, the bond of 
union will be broken — never again to be weld- 
ed — and we shall have separate States or Con- 
federacies, each compelled to maintain, by op 
preesive taxes, large standiog armies, to be almost 
constantly engaged in bloody war, to settle 
questions now peaceably solved in Congress, oc^ 
by our U. S. Supreme Court ; and history has 
amply proven that under such circumstances no 
Republican government can lo^'g survive. The 
Commander-in-chief of the army will soon dic- 
tate the form of govf!rnment, ynd the ruling 
monarch or oligarchy. From all these evils a 
^ kind Providence has hitherto preserved us by 
' our geographical position, thousands of miles 
from the borders of auy foreign power. May 
these facts be duly weighed by all intelligent 
patriots, before those great States that now 
combine and mutually advance each other's 
interests shall be found arrayed in hostili'y 
against each other. Let all seditioui? attetnpts 
of fanatics and demagogues to sow the seeds of 
jealousy and strife among the sous of the heroes 
of '76, be foiled, and let each State be left free 
to regulate its own domestic affairs, and the ter- 
ritories remain as they ever have, under the 
Constitution — the common property of the sev- 
eral States, to which their citizens may freely 
emigrate with their property ; and when new 
States are admitted, with all the sovereign pow- 
ers of the old ones, the people of each can for 
themselves settle the question of negro slavery 
according to their interests or inclination. By 
Buch means only .can peace be preserved and 
the general good of tie whole country per- 
petuated. 
" Proudly pail on, O Ship of State ! 
Sail on, Union, strSng and greal ! 
Humanity with all its fears, 
Is haugiug breathless on thy fate ! 
We know what Master laid thy keel, 
What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel. 
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, 
What anvils rang, what hammers beat, 
In what a forge and what a heat 
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope I 
In spite of rock ;\ud tempest roar. 
In spite of false lights on the shore. 
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea ! 
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, 
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears. 
Our faith triumphant o'er our tears, 
Are all with thee— are all with thse I" 

' * See the Daolaratioa of ladepeadeaee. 



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■ maintain or gain upon the pre-eminence it has 
; posfessed for the last few years, as the most in- 
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•' G. 1 BEEBE, 
towo^iOca&ge Co., N. 1f^ 






.*• 



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